


Auf dem Meer

by Nara_ism



Category: Rammstein
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, Angst, Blood and Injury, Blow Jobs, Fluff, Frottage, M/M, Non-Human Genitalia, Outdoor Sex, Slow Burn, Smut, Torture, mermaid!Richard, mermaid!Schneider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-03-25 18:06:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 67,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13840164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nara_ism/pseuds/Nara_ism
Summary: Personal problems lead Paul to get away from Germany to Till’s piece of paradise. He wanted to spend his days working there, clearing his head but ends up with a rather unexpected friend. His whole life turns upside down when he meets a creature he thought should not exist – a very curious merman.





	1. Travelling

**Author's Note:**

> So I finally decided to post this thing - pls go easy on me, It's been some time since I wrote anything and English is not my native language  
> The chapters will get longer btw

This was a bad idea. Leaving your family when it’s so close to breaking was certainly not Paul’s brightest idea. But the environment was getting so stuffy and if he would stay a day longer back in Berlin he would lose his mind, therefore the awaiting fresh air and peaceful sea was exactly what he needed for his mind to cool down.

So here he was, on his way to his old friend’s sanctuary at the shores of a small island in the middle of nowhere. Till was one of his oldest friends and before he left Germany to pursue his dreams he spent most of his youth togheter with Paul, causing trouble for the Stasi and alike. There was no arguing, just as Till heard Paul’s distressed voice over the phone, he ordered him to _move his ass over here, you miserable idiot_.

An old taxi which Paul took from the airport rattled along the coast showing him that he indeed was in the middle of nowhere. Barred hills with scattered trees, rock formations on every corner, endless sea and less and less civilization to be found. It was about 15 minutes after passing the last village that the taxi entered what appeared to be a small farm situated right at the beach with multiple fishing tools laying around.

 _Is this the Place_? Paul thought as he exited the taxi, picking up his duffel bag. Not even a few seconds later Till’s head appeared from one of the windows of what looked like to be his cottage.

“Paulie! You’ve made it!” Till shouted as he disappeared inside only to burst out of the door and embrace Paul in a tight hug.

“Jesus Christ you’re gonna crush me!” Paul started to laugh as he tried to return the hug, patting the big man awkwardly on his back. “It’s good to see you, man.”

“It’s good to see you too! and come in, come in, you must be tired after the long journey, you wretch. Let’s get you settled down and then you can tell me your tale of woe.” Till took Paul’s bag and started to shove the smaller man inside.

He showed him his own room, which in fact was just a study with a spare bed and couple of shelves, then Till thoroughly introduced him to the fishery; a barn with an old pickup that Till used for travelling around the island, then a smaller barn filled with all kinds of agricultural tools including a few machines which looked they might never work again. Finally, he took him to the shore where he had a pier with couple of prams, a bigger boat and further away stood another boat clearly used for going out far onto the sea.

“It’s a bit of a mess here but hey, I’m the only one living here and I love it. Tomorrow I’ll teach you some basics of what I do here so you just don’t sit here on your butt and look miserable, ok?”

“You really trust me with all of this, Till? I barely know how to fish and you think I’ll be able to do more than that?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you do anything difficult. It’s gonna be like a holiday here for you. Now, lets get inside and you can start with everything that has happened to you back at home.” Till smiled, put a hand around Paul’s shoulders and led him back into the cottage.

…

“…And then she said that if we continue this way she won’t even let me see my daugher! I never thought I would say that about her but she is acting like a collosal bitch.” Paul angrily gesticulated, successfully spilling some of the vodka on himself that Till has been pouring him throughout the evening, “AND before I could tell her how she has been suspiciously spending her time away from home, most probably in someone else’s company, she just slammed the door in my face saying she doesn’t wanna see or hear from me anything. All my life’s gone to shit, Till. I-I don’t even know what I am supposted to do.”

“Well, you can start with clearing your head and calming down,” sighed Till as he took away Paul’s glass, “I’m sure that if the both of you will have time to calm down, you’ll be able to find some kind of a common ground. So starting tomorrow, you’re gonna help me with checking the cages I have scattered around. Now, off you go; you must be tired from your travelling and we’re starting early tomorrow.”

Paul scoffed at Till’s attempts of shooing him away from the alcohol. But being the smaller one he had no other choice than to comply, and with some side comments he started to move up the stairs to his room. After saying good night to Till he moved to the small bathroom to wash himself and change his clothes. When he returned to his room, Paul discovered that the windows on one of the walls had a beautiful view of the cove and the sea, which was illuminated by the moon. Now he kind of understood from where Till took his inspiration for his poems, the scene looked excatly like a painting. Paul opened the glass door next to the windows and stepped onto the small balcony and leaned on the wooden railing. The wind slightly ruffled his hair and brought the unmistakable scent of the sea. He closed his eyes, soaking in the atmosphere and letting the wind play with his short hair.

After a few minutes of just standing there he suddenly heard a faint voice. It was more like a couple of voices, singing tohether, creating a beautiful serene melody which the breeze carried straight to Paul. He furrowed his brow and opened one eye just to check if he can see anybody. But it was just him, the calm night sea and the almost hypnotic melody which was patrtialy disturbed by the soft sound of waves washing up onto the shore.

 _Must be coming from that village which we went through or either I’m halucitnating._ he thought and with a sigh and a shake of his head he returned back inside. He still left a window slightly open before he went to lie down, so when he was finally falling asleep he still could hear the soothing singing.


	2. Getting to know the place

“Rise and shine! New day’s here and I need you!” Till boomed right above Paul’s head while opening the curtains. Paul growled and tried to crawl under his blanket but that also has been snatched from him.

“C’mon, we need to leave as soon as possible. The breakfast’s ready.”

“Yeah yeah, just gimmie a few minutes, ‘m not used to waking up early.” Paul mumbled as he sat at the edge of his bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked at his phone; 7 o’clock, huh, that is not that early. Also no messages, which was not unexpected but he would love at least some kind of a new information regarding his relationship. Paul sighed and with all the enthusiasm a freshly woken person can have, started moving towards the bathroom for his morning rituals.

Once properly woken up and baited into the kitched by freshly brewed coffee he sat down and started munching on the eggs and toast Till has prepared for him. He looked at his coffee, ready to take a sip and had to smile – Till still rememberd he doesn’t like it strong. Make it milky as much as possible, then it’s perfect. After draining almost half of it he looked at Till.

“So what will we be doing today, more exactly, what will I be doing today?”

“As I briefly mentioned yesterday, you’re gonna help me with the traps I have layed down around the perimeter. We’re gonna pick them up, collect anything that’s inside and put them back. Nothing too difficult or physicaly demanding,” Till winked at Paul while carrying a bunch of rolled up maps to the table. He opened one of them and started showing Paul all the marked points – there were a few of them. Some not far from Till’s cottage, some in the neighbouring cove and some scattered around a couple of small, rocky islands further in the sea.

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” said Paul as he finished his last piece of toast.

“That’s why are we starting with it. It’s one of the most boring things I have to do here and that is also the reason why it’s gonna be your responsibility from now on.”

“Hey!” Paul scoffed and lightly punched Till in the arm.

So they moved outside. Till was collecting all kinds of tools including scissors, saws, knives and ropes which he then threw into one of the boats while Paul was following him around, helping him carry the stuff. Then they climbed into the boat, Till taking control of the helm and started up the boat. It took them only a couple of minutes to get to the first traps and Till immediately got into work. He showed Paul which ropes to pull, how to keep the boat near without dropping the anchor down. In a few seconds he pulled out a medium sized trap that was only something over a meter long and not even a meter wide or deep. There were a couple of fish caught in it which Till quickly sorted out, pointing out which were good enough to keep and which he just threw over the board back into the sea. The next trap they did together, eventhough Paul did not want to put his hands inside of it at first – _it’s so slimy! and God knows what could have wandered inside!_ – but after a _lovely_ encouragement from Till’s side he slowly started picking up the fish and occasionally a crab or two.

…

“What do you usually do with this kind of catch?” Paul asked as they were enjoying their lunch on one of the many beaches.

“Well,” Till took a bite out of his sandwich, “I keep some of the good pieces for myself and the rest is sold to the nearby village. They have weekly markets and I’m in touch with some of the locals, so we struck a deal. Same goes with the occasional fruits or vegetables that’ll grow in my gardens.”

“you also grow crops?”

“Not intentionally, but I don’t really have time to take care of the gardens and they’re filled with citrus trees and what not. So I just let the locals come and collect what they want as long as they leave some for me and pay me a bit for what they took. Can’t really live without the money.” Till smirked and then added, “Plus some of the girls living here are quite the beauties, haven’t seen such tits anywhere back home.”

“Really Till? Really?”

“What? I live here alone and it’s so easy when half of them get curious about the _foreigner_ living toghether with them here,” Now Till’s smirked bloomed into a smile and a heartfelt laugh, “maybe they could also help you to relax.”

“yeah, well, I don’t think so. But at least I know where the yesterday’s singing came from.” said Paul as he took a swing of his beer. he had to grimace as it was far from what was he used to in Germany.

“Singing?” Till’s smile immediately faded as he looked nervously at Paul, “What singing?”

“Well, yesterday before I went to bed I wanted to look around, afterall the view from the balcony is gorgegous. And as I was just standing there, enjoying the atmosphere, I heard a faint melody coming from somewhere. But I saw no ships or anyone nearby the fishery so I was a bit confused.”

Paul observed Till’s thoughtful face and suddenly became doubtful, “Is there something going on?”

“Hmm? Oh no, no, not at all” the bigger man said as he shook his head, probably getting rid of some of his thoughts, “It was probably coming from the village. The sea just carried the sound all the way to us, so you could actually hear them.”

“Huh, okay,” still that didn’t sound convincing to Paul. Well, it would if Till didn’t start to act so suspiciously from all of the sudden.

“Anyway, it’s time for us to continue, we still have to take out the ones further in the sea and those usually are a bit fuller. The sooner we get them, the sooner we can finish,” Till stood up, picked up the lunch box plus everyhing around them and headed to the boat.

Paul jogged after him and helped him to put their stuff back. When Till was getting behind the helm the smaller man got an idea, “say Till, if you wanna let do some of your work you also have to teach me how to drive these beauties.” he kept nundging Till with his elbow while he pleadingly stared at the wheel.

“Okay okay, but don’t you dare to crash it, or I’ll drown you,” Till  let him behind the helm, helped him to turn the boat around towards the open sea and navigate him to the rocky islands.

“Crash it? There’s nothing in our w-oh shit!”

Paul almost fell of the boat as Till took over the helm, making a sharp turn and passing shallows filled with rocks.

“Maybe not in front of you, but certainly uder you, you idiot!”

Paul just apologetically smiled and again slowly took over the wheel. Now much more carefully they arrived to the islands. More than literal islands they were just giant rocks slightly sticking out from the bottom of the sea which Paul could barely see now. The islands also created a small maze, which is why Till didn’t want to get inside with the boat. Not only would it be useless, as he said, but also the boat would have problems navigating through. So again they started with fishing out the traps, now taking it more time for them to bring them to surface thanks to the distance.

As Till promised, they were much fuller than the other scattered around and when Paul asked why, Till just half-assedly answered that these places are just more potent than others. The last two let Till Paul do on his own to see if he could even do it at all. It was a bit more difficult as Paul did not have in no way the same strength as Till but he managed nonetheless. With full storage they have returned to Till’s fishery and started putting the fish in different tanks. Paul felt relieved when Till assured him that he will be the one who will kill the fish  and that the last thing he will help him with is when they’ll get processed, he’ll have to put them in the ice boxes which were back under the smaller barn in a cellar.

So while Till was busy playing being the local butcher, Paul took advantage of the free time and went for a swim. Even though he was quite tired from the day’s work he still swam as much as he could only to return to the shore to pick up a pair of fins and goggles with an attached snorkel. Seeing the world from underwater was so therapeutic, the soft blue colours, small fish chasing each other around corals and the hum of the sea itself almost hypnotised him. He spent the better part of the afternoon just repeatedly diving down just to chase a fish or swim among the rocks and enjoying the free time.

“Paulie, I need your help now!” he heard Till’s voice from the inside of the barn so he started to swim slowly back to the shore. But not before a last hasty dive where he accidentally scraped his knee against one of the rocks. It wasn’t anything serious though. Just a bit of blood and a bit of a sting from the salty water. With a quiet curse he quickly swam to the shore, took off his equipment and went to help Till to store the fish.

…

“So what do you think? Is this gonna help you clean your head?” Till asked in the middle of their dinner, which they had brought onto the porch, overlooking the shore.

Paul stopped chewing his salad and had to think. During the whole day he didn’t have a single thought about his life back at home which immediately conjured up a sincere smile on his face.

“yesh-“

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Sorry,” Paul swallowed, “but yeah, not a single thought. And even though I’m tired as fuck I’m kind of happy…ier.”

“That’s good. Early tomorrow we’ll take our catch into the village, buy some food for ourselves and some supplies for the work. You’ll also help me sew back some nets and then in the evening we’ll for some good old fashioned fishing by the neighbouring cove, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Paul raised his bottle of beer to clink it with Till’s. Little did he know that when he went to his bed the songs would begin again.


	3. Unexpected Meetings

As Till promised the next day went exactly like he planned and by the late afternoon they were both sitting on a lonely shore, a couple of fishing rods before them, a couple of cold beers and the serenity of the solitude surrounding them. Paul discovered that the locals were indeed nice, all of them trying to communicate with them, well, especially with him as he was a new face. Through broken English of the locals he discovered quite a lot of things about the village. While it was not the centre of the tourism, it still had its magic and brought a couple of curious families and couples to their small hotels. They also told him about two other Germans living nearby and Till confirmed it. One was the owner of a small sports centre on the touristic beach – Ollie, as Till told him, was a nice and a shy guy who came here just as Till did, to pursue his dream but his was just a bit more athletic. The other one lived in one of the bigger towns, working in a local hospital. Till told him that they became quite good friends with Flake after his numerous visits to the clinic in the beginning of his career as an unexperienced fisherman.

Suddenly, Paul’s rod bent forward and started to shake crazily.

“Quick! You’ve got something!” shouted Till and aided the smaller man with reeling in the catch back. Paul was trying as hard as he could while also looking towards the golden horizon trying to figure out how far his catch was.

He was so focused on finding it that at first he didn’t even notice a big tail, too big for the local fish, splashing around. When he did notice it, he shouted in surprise and let the rod go which immediately disappeared into the sea probably being carried away by his potential catch. Or by the fish with that enormous tail.

“What. The. Fuck. Paul,” Till stared at him not being capable of finding other words, so he just kept repeating those four in combinations.

“I-I-I… Did you see that?!”

“See what? How you just threw my fucking rod away?”

“No-yeah, sorry. But-but there was something big further back in the sea! A tail too big for any fish you’ve told me about that would live here! What if it was a shark? I don’t wanna be eaten by a shark, Till!” Now he started to slightly freak out.

“Calm down, will you? It’s unusual for any sharks to appear here and you know how shark’s tail looks like, right?”

Paul nodded.

“Right, and did it look like one?”

“N-no…” now Paul felt a bit stupid, maybe he was over reacting.

“That’s what I thought. It could have been something much smaller and the sunrays just confused you. Or maybe there are some dolphins playing around, you never know,” Till tried to assure him but again, Paul felt that it was not a hundred percent sincere answer.

“Seeing some dolphins would be actually nice,” sighed Paul and then slightly cringed, “Also, sorry again for the rod I’ll buy you a new one, I swear.”

Till just scoffed and looked at his watch, “Let’s get back home. We have caught plenty enough and it’ll take some time before it’ll be ready for eating.”

Paul couldn’t argue with that so he started to carefully reel back the other rod and then pack the rest of their stuff into the old pickup with which they arrived.

Few hours later they were sitting again on the porch with their bellies full, each holding a glass of wine. Soft music was coming from the inside of the cottage, their old songs which they loved to listen to before they departed each their own way. Paul was secretly looking at Till, trying to decipher his face. He just knew that Till wasn’t telling him everything. So before he could think of anything proper to say, his mouth made the decision for him:

“Was it really just a dolphin’s tail? I know that everything looked distorted in the sunset, but I believe that the tail wasn’t grey nor any other colour dolphins are supposed to have. And the fins at the end were much more intricate, it actually reminded me of one of those exotic fish types-“

Paul’s rambling was disrupted by the bigger man’s loud sigh, “Paul don’t try to make sense of it. Sometimes you see stuff that just doesn’t make sense and it never will or maybe it will but much later. There are many sea creatures around this island and generally in the sea that we don’t know about. Or we know about them but don’t wanna have anything in common with them, okay? So if you happen to see something new it’s not a reason for a freak out, just try to ignore it and enjoy your stay here.”

With that Till furrowed his brow and looked quite sternly at Paul. That made him a bit uneasy so he just quickly nodded and resumed in drinking of his wine.

Later that night, when Paul had to make an unexpected visit of the bathroom he decided to again go outside onto the balcony. He quite liked the silver reflection of the moon, shimmering onto the surface of the sea. His ears picked the melody again while looking over the bay. Then he saw the tail again. It was so close, appearing from the black and silver waves, breaching the surface and again disappearing down into the depths. The tail was twisting and turning as if the creat- _fish,_ Paul corrected himself, tried to give him a show. It showed up repeatedly, swimming in laps around Till’s boats, in the place where he free dived and then slowly disappearing further into the sea. Paul rubbed his eyes and had to remind himself to close his mouth. _Nope, too much wine._ Paul thought to himself. God knows what kind of herbs Till used for the grilled fish.

He quickly run inside, closed the doors, the windows and buried himself deep under his blanket.

…

And so the days started to pass by. Everyday Paul did something new, either working with fish or on Till’s garden, making it appear more accessible. He hasn’t seen the mysterious tail anymore which made him quite happy and he even got used to the night songs which, as he discovered, weren’t even an everyday occurrence. He made a couple of trips back into the village, meeting the locals, shopping or even getting to know Ollie who really was a pleasant guy. Everything kind of became a routine and he felt that his soul was healing. Just as he was getting used to this idyllic life, one encounter twisted his own life inside out.

It has been almost three weeks since he has arrived and the first day when Till trusted him enough to go take care of the traps on his own. While not exactly being a pro in driving the boat around he still managed to get to the first traps and empty them rather efficiently. Till was still watching him from the shore with a pair of binoculars and when he saw that Paul’s doing a good job he left him be, signalising him to go to the other spots, away from the fishery. And so Paul did. He had no problem with taking out the rest in the neighbouring cove, releasing useless creatures back into the sea. When he arrived to the last stop, the rock formation, he decided to have a short stop to relax, maybe have a beer and a nap on the warm sun. He took one beer out, opened it, took a sip and the unceremoniously collapsed into one the chairs in the boat. He put his feet up and a cap over his eyes while he let the soft sounds of waves nuzzling the sides of the boat bring him to sleep.

He could not have fallen asleep for long as he was roused from his sleep by a dull thud. Putting the hat down and checking if he didn’t spill the beer anywhere he suddenly felt someone’s stare at him. That made him froze, because who else would be here in the middle of nowhere? Paul took a deep breath and quickly turned to his left side, expecting someone to be there. But before he could see anybody a splash of water was all that was left. With a confused face he backed away from the boat’s left side only to turn to its right side, to put the beer back inside the cooler. What he did not expect was a man staring at him while propped by his elbows on the other side of the ship. _Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck_ were the only thoughts running through Paul’s mind as he yelled in shock and fell back onto his butt, then immediately tried to scoot as far away from the intruder as possible. But that was a mistake, because the man, who _clearly_ was not a man, pulled himself up, tilting the boat to his side while exposing what certainly looked like a goddamn tail. His face still had a look of curiosity while a small smirk bloomed onto his mouth.

 _Oh my God the fucker’s gonna eat me!_ Paul’s mind screamed at him while he skidded closer to the creature. His last thought, which was not the brightest, was to grab the railing, hoist himself up and jump from the boat into the sea. While trying to catch his breath he swam to the surface then realizing his mistake. The creature, _a goddamn mermaid or merman or whatever_ , just dove underneath the rocking ship and started circling Paul.

“Fucking hell!” Paul screamed and tried to swim as quickly as he could towards the rocky islands before his brain would shut down. He tried to pay no mind to the merman swimming underneath him and not to freak out too much. Surprisingly, he safely arrived to the nearest rock formation and scaled it as fast as he could. It’s not like he was completely safe up there, he was sure that if the monster was determined enough he would have no problem jumping up to him and dragging him down into the depths. As much as he was trying to calm himself down with deep breaths while being on all his fours, Paul still felt like he was going into a shock. Luckily he managed to relatively calm himself down. When he dared to raise his head up he felt like crying but the only thing that came out was a choked moan.

The merman was laying on the lower half of the rock, now with his tail perfectly visible as only the fins were lazily moving in the water. It was the same big, meaty tail that Paul saw all those days before. Big, exotic and full of colours creating hypnotising patterns. Lionfish was what came to his mind after looking at it for the second time.

“Hello,” suddenly came from the merman and Paul got shocked again. He again fell back onto his butt which also frightened the merman who jerked a bit, “are you okay?” He asked Paul in an accented and perfect English.

“I didn’t want to frighten you. It’s just that I haven’t seen you around here before and I got curious, y’know.”

Paul was absolutely speechless. He was talking to him? Didn’t want to frighten him?!

“Jesus Christ” was his only answer.

“I saw you going out with the fisherman, with, uh, with Till,” _he knows Till’s name? Oh, old buddy if I survive this you’ll have some explaining to do. And then I’ll kill you,_ “are you his friend?”

“Y-yes.” Ha. First proper answer. Paul felt proud, maybe soon he’ll have enough strength to tell that thing to sod off. Or maybe not. Also probably not the best idea to tell them you’re friends with the local fisherman, you know, the man that kills fish for living. Well, too late.

“That makes sense then, He would never leave his boats to someone he doesn’t trust. Wait… _Sprichst du Deutch_?”

“J-ja, I am German as Till is.”

“That also makes sense,” he smiled for himself and continued to talk in perfect German. “What’s your name?”

Paul just kept looking at him then decided that if he talks with him long enough maybe he’ll let Paul go.

“I’m Paul. Paul Landers.”

“Nice to meet you Paul. You can call me Richard,” the merman almost beamed happiness at him and while he did so his tail gave a few twists which made the water splash around.

“Richard? Really?” Bit weird, Paul was expecting some really unusual name or maybe something he wouldn’t be able to pronounce.

“Hmm, I know. It sounds like a name from you folks. I’ve actually picked it for myself. I kind of like it. And most of you would not be able of saying my true name correctly anyway,” he coquettishly moved his head to the side.

It looked like he wanted to say more, but he suddenly turned around like a dog that caught a scent. Then he quickly turned back, winked at Paul and said, “It was really nice meeting you, Paul. I hope I can talk to you more some other time.”

With that he jumped into the water and disappeared. Paul found himself to be alone on a piece of a rock with is boat slowly drifting away. Before he could start with the string of oncoming curses and another income of a panic attack, he saw the ship suddenly getting closer by itself. Of course, when it was close enough a familiar shape swam from underneath it, waved Paul a final good bye and then disappeared in the depths.

Not waiting for the ship to drift away again, Paul quickly jumped into the water, climbed on and immediately rode back home. _Screw the last few traps. Till can finish it._  Paul pushed the boat to its limits to return as quickly as possible, almost crashing it into the pier. When he bound the boat down Till was already on his way to him, ready to give Paul an earful for his reckless driving.

“You’ve got some fucking explaining to do!” shouted Paul straight into Till’s face.

“ME? You’re the one who almost crashed into the pier while driving like a maniac!”

“Maybe I wouldn’t do that if a _certain_ Richard wouldn’t try to jump onto that goddamn boat!”

Till suddenly froze and his eyes doubled in size, “Oh so you know who I am talking about? Because he knew _your_ name! So you better collect your thoughts and explain everything to me before I call the fucking army over here!”

With that Paul stormed inside the cottage, angrily shutting the door behind him and making some of the decorations fall from it.

“Well, here we go,” Till muttered to himself and with a deep breath made his way back into the cottage.


	4. Curiosity

Paul was furiously pacing across the kitchen while trying to find something, anything that would help him relax. He found a bottle of vodka, opened it and drank straight from it. The bitter taste helped him to momentarily take his thoughts away from his adventure but as soon as the burning stopped, the panic has returned. He put the bottle again to his lips and with a deep sigh took another swing. _What the fuck is going on?_

Just as he was ready to raise the bottle for the third time, Till entered the cottage with a furrowed a brow. Looking at Paul he tried to sound soothing as much as possible, “If you’re gonna continue drinking that you won’t even remember anything I’m about to tell you right now.”

That didn’t stop Paul from putting the bottle to his lips and drinking from it while continuously glaring at Till. Last swing and he slammed the bottle on the table. “So?” he practically growled.

“Well, for starters, I didn’t tell you about it because you wouldn’t believe me, would you?” Paul just continued to glare at him while drumming his fingers on the bottle.

“The first time I have met him was also an accident. I was reeling up some nets I had laid out when I kind of got that merman, or well, Richard tangled into it. He knew I was new here so he was keeping an eye on me, getting to know me and deciding if I was a threat or not, but what he didn’t realize was that there were nets all around him. When I realized that there’s something heavy in the nets I tried to take a closer look. Let me just say that the bugger almost killed me. He still had the nets all around him when he jumped onto the boat and slithered towards me. Thankfully, the nets stopped him form reaching me,”  Till now pulled a glass out of a cabinet, put some ice in it and stole Paul’s bottle, “after trying to remember to breathe I did a stupid thing of grabbing my knife which the guy didn’t really like as you can imagine. He started thrashing around and hissing like crazy, almost flipping the boat over. When Richard realized that I’m just trying to get rid off him by cutting the nets he calmed down, but the glare he was giving me was nasty. Quite similar to yours actually,” Till smirked as he took a sip from his glass.

“That still doesn’t explain why he knew your name and why he didn’t want to eat me,” Paul’s voiced cracked, distress still written over his face.

“Because that was not the last time I saw him. I saw him a couple of times as he watched me do my work and I wouldn’t be surprised if the couple of cages that I pulled up completely destroyed were his work of art. Anyway, there are apparently people that know that these creatures, these _mermaids,_ actually exists. I first saw a ship that was going around the island and then anchoring not far from here. I thought it was just another fishing ship but when they got closer I saw that they weren’t really hunting for fish. They successfully caught a couple and were probably waiting for more. That was a mistake as Richard and couple of his friends attacked the ship. I was too close to just sit idle and do nothing so I tried to help them as much as I only could. After I helped to free the two girls they were holding, Richard stayed and thanked me. A couple of days later he willingly swam to me and started asking me questions. Who am I, How long have I been here, _what’s my name_ , and why have I decided to help them. When he saw I really didn’t wanna make a trophy out of him or any other of his kind he left me be. Nowadays I just catch a glimpse of them somewhere on the sea, that’s all. He probably wanted to check that you’re here with me and not to harm them.” Till finished his speech, looked at his empty glass and sighed. Rather than pouring it into his glass he mimicked Paul and drank straight from the bottle.

“Wait wait wait. There are more? And why doesn’t the world know that mermaids actually exist?”

“Of course there are more, I think they live together in schools. But not like you would find a whole underwater city somewhere here. I don’t think there’s more than a hundred scattered around this island. And I don’t know all the answers, maybe some people know about them otherwise they wouldn’t hunt them. God knows what drug lords keep in their mansions apart from big cats.”

“A-a hundred. Okay.” Paul swallowed and looked outside at the shimmering sea. _How did it get so dark so quick?_ “Y’know, I’m gonna go upstairs and sleep it off. Maybe I if I wake up tomorrow I’ll discover it was just a bad dream.” He sourly smiled and headed for the staircase. “And so you know, if I knew that it’s safe to return home I would be packing my stuff already. Goodnight.”

Till watched him ascend the stairs and when Paul disappeared, he took the last swing of the vodka, finishing it and putting the bottle away. There was nothing he could do with this situation, he could not command the sea nor the creatures living in in. He just hoped that Paul would change his mind and continue to work with him. The mermaids should not harm him or be interested in him so the chance seeing another one was low.

…

After washing his face for the third time, Paul looked at himself into the mirror. When he arrived here, meeting a merman was the last thing he expected to happen. But as everything looked extremely real he had no other choice than to accept that that meeting has really happened. He moved into his room closing the door behind him. He sat on his bed and tried to think what was he going to do now. He knew that returning on the open sea is very unlikely to happen and he did not want to bore himself to death on the dry land. Mowing the grass and repairing the barns are not exactly the things he came over for. He sighed and put his head into his hands, breathing deeply. With no idea coming forward he at least checked his phone. No message or a call from his wife. The only thing were the occasional messages he exchanged with his little daughter, some from his son and some calls from potential customers. Thank God he was a freelancer and did not have to explain himself anywhere why he has fucked off into a middle of nowhere. He wrote a short message to his daughter then switched the phone off and laid down.

Paul’s brain was totally fried so he thought he would fall asleep in a blink of an eye, but he had no such luck. He was just tossing and turning from side to side in his bed, trying to get comfortable and to get rid of all the thoughts. But the meeting was coming back to his mind over and over again, reminding him of the long colourful tail and the smiling man that it has belonged to. Why on earth had happened that to him? Paul had to snort at the absurdity as he yet again turned onto his other side. Checking his watch he discovered it was already close to two in the morning. Hmm, looks like he’s going to pull an all-nighter. He glanced up and watched the clear, starry sky through his windows with his thoughts running astray. Paul’s curiosity’s got better of him making him raise from the bed and move towards the windows. The sky was indeed beautiful. The Moon was getting into its full size, making everything drown in white, magical colour. After a short hesitation he stepped outside into the night air and looked around. The nature surrounding him had immensely soothing effect. The fresh, cold air helped him relax his tense body than any alcohol could. Thanks to the strong moonlight he could perfectly see the garden on his left side, the citrus trees already growing small oranges, in front of him the sea with Till’s machines and on his right side a small rock range, preventing him from seeing the village which was further beyond it. The serenity of it all brought a small smile onto Paul’s lips. He looked again into the bay watching the boats swing on the oncoming waves. Then his smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Among the waves he noticed a very familiar tail.

Now the cheeky bastard had enough courage to actually stick his head out and Paul just knew he was staring back at him. Sharply inhaling, he stepped back from the railing, ready to get inside and bury himself under the blanket. Richard swam closer to the pier and actually hoisted himself up, sitting on the edge, his tail curled and hanging back into the water. After making sure he was comfortable he returned his eyes back on Paul. Paul cursed and with a final look towards the pier he got back inside, sliding the door shut. He began to pace across the room. _Apparently, I’ve become a goddamn fish magnet_. Paul thought as he decided what to do next. The only plausible thing was to stay inside, get the blanket, get under the bed if necessary and wait it out. He sat back onto the bed, then peaked out of the window and immediately sat down back again. Richard was still sitting there, his head turned towards Paul’s windows. Paul sat on his bed for the next ten minutes or so before his brain decided to fuck it, and come outside to discover what the guy wants.

So Paul got up, put a pair of sweatpants on as he didn’t want to go there just in his tank top and boxer shorts. As quietly as possible he descended the stairs, moved towards the porch doors and grabbed the knob. With a final deep breath he slowly opened the door and got outside onto the porch. He closed the door behind himself and looked at the merman. Now that he was outside, it looked like Richard was deliberately avoiding his stare. That gave Paul second thoughts and he almost turned around and got back inside but the sound of splashing water, which came from Richard’s moving tail roused him back into continuing his task. Slowly, he started to move across the porch and down onto the dirt road, bare feet not making any sound. He could see the merman now watching him again, giving him full attention when he stepped onto the pier, wooden planks slightly creaking under him. Now he could see the faint smile and curious eyes watching his feet make every step. When he was halfway onto the pier and only a few meters away from Richard, the merman suddenly spoke, “hello again, Paul. I thought I had scared you enough that you’d stay inside.”

That made Paul jump a bit, but thankfully not enough to render him speechless, “I thought so too. But apparently my brain does not decide what I want to do,” he sighed as he kept a safe distance away from the man.

Richard’s smile widened and he cocked his head to the side, “why are you here? This island is not exactly pretty for you people.”

“Well, uh, I had some problems back at home and Till offered me a place here to clean my head. Don’t know if it will work anymore.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. And I hope that you will stay here, it’s not Till’s mistake that he didn’t warn you about us.”

“Yeah he told me that he doubted I would believe him. Which is right, I wouldn’t,” Paul snorted and looked at Richard.

While the colours of his tail were barely visible now, he could still see the stripes across the lower half of his body, smaller pairs of fins in place where his hips should be, were sticking out, sharp ends drawn close to his body. The scales got smaller where his chest started, slowly disappearing into the smooth skin. He also had a few small scales on his forearms, making them glitter in the moonlight. Paul decided that Richard was nicely built; he could clearly see the muscular stomach, strong arms and equally strong neck. God knows how powerful that tail of his must be. But while looking rather athletic, which made Paul a bit jealous, he wasn’t skinny. That made sense, he would not survive underwater without a thin layer of fat, which was rounding him rather nicely. Paul realised he was staring and with a cough looked away. “I-I mean it’s not everyday you meet a creature you’ve only heard of in myths and fairy tales.”

“Hm, that you don’t. We only appear when we want to. When we know it’s safe, and most of the people don’t live long enough after the encounter to tell the tale,” Richard smirked evilly, which made Paul freeze and look at Richard in horror.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe. If I wanted you dead I would have done it already,” Richard laughed and even if he tried to reassure Paul, the smaller man still did not trust him.

“Then why do you want to be near me? Why didn’t you want to eat me back then?” Paul asked as he nervously looked back at the merman.

That made Richard laugh so much he threw his head back exposing his neck. Paul noticed that he wore a leather necklace with dark shells and rocks (or were those pearls? It was difficult to see in the moonlight) around his neck and it was rather snuggly fitted.

“Firstly, we don’t usually _eat_ people. Maybe only during the time we court or when we’re desperate, but it’s not part of our daily routine. And I didn’t hurt you because I wanted to get to know you, honestly,” Now he smiled more sincerely. “I was watching you since the day you have arrived to Till’s. And when you accidently scraped your knee over there,” he moved his head towards the general direction where Paul occasionally free dived, “I smelled you were different from the locals.”

It seemed that Richard had a way of making Paul uncomfortable just with his words.

“The curiosity had just gotten so strong I had to greet you, and so here I am,” he smiled again and winked at Paul.

Paul just stood there, not knowing what he should do except to nervously play with the hem of his tank top and chew his bottom lip.

“Please, don’t be so afraid, I really just want to talk to you, okay? It’s quite easy to get bored here as all of the locals are the same. Till was a distraction for a short time and so was that that Ollie, but even them became predictable after some time. Lets just sit here and talk, I’m curious,” He twisted his tail a bit so there would be more space next to him which he immediately patted with his hand, encouraging Paul to sit down.

_If he wanted to kill me I would’ve already been dead_. Thought Paul. While he was standing he easily had to look down at the sitting merman, but when he sat down, Richard was almost towering over him. Now that he sat so close he could perfectly see his face; Richard had a rather strong jaw and high cheekbones. His eyes were partially shadowed by his brow, giving him a mysterious look. Fuller lower lip and slightly upturned nose only added to the overall handsomeness. His hair was sticking in all kinds of directions, some of the spikes defying gravity. Paul had no idea how his hair could look like that but he blamed it onto the sea water and Richard not being human. Another unusual thing were his ears; they looked like a human’s but were much pointier, rimmed with a thin layer of the same colour as his tail.

When he saw a smirk appearing on Richard’s face, _that bastard’s probably enjoying the attention_ , Paul thought, he quickly tried to think of a topic, “so, if you live here, why do you speak German so fluently without an accent?”

“I’ve learned it. As I did with other human languages. You people have rather easy melodies in your languages to pick up.”

“Speaking of melodies, that singing, that doesn’t come from the village, right?”

“No, did Till try to convince you that it was coming from it?”

“Yeah, he did. So it wasn’t?” Paul asked again as he rolled up the sleeves of his sweatpants so he could put his feet into the water. He noticed again as Richard was curiously watching him, focusing on his legs. _Oh yeah, he doesn’t have those_. Once he had his feet under water, he put his hands on the edge of the pier and looked back at Richard, encouraging him to continue.

“That singing comes from us, we love to do it when we get onto the beaches and rocks. As you know, sound doesn’t really travel well underwater, so we try to have as much fun as possible. Mostly the girls though, but I like to join from time to time.”

“I’ve noticed that I mostly heard female voices. You boys don’t like to sing?” Paul was brave enough to slightly nudge Richard into his side.

“Oh we do, but it’s not exactly like there is many of us. You guys have it quite different with kids and population in general, no?”

“Uh, maybe. I don’t know? How is it with you guys?”

“Let’s say that when about thirty new offsprings are born, only one of them, if we are lucky, is a male. So there is not many of us.”

“Basically you’re telling me that I’m very lucky I’ve met you, right?” Paul smiled and looked up at Richard.

The merman laughed, emitting a pleasant throaty sound, “that you are. We are quite rare. You guys don’t have any problems, like we do, huh?”

“No, not really. I already have two kids back home, one of them is even a boy, so no problem,” Paul’s smile turned a bit sad when he remembered his kids.

“Oh you have your own? That’s amazing!” Richard threw an arm around Paul’s shoulders making him jump a bit, “I actually have my own too, y’know. Don’t know how many though, at least three resemble me a bit, one is even a boy too, which is amazing, but about the others I’m not sure.”

“You don’t know how many children you have? Isn’t that a bit weird?” Paul raised his eyebrows and continued, “well, probably not. God knows how it works with you guys…”

Richard hummed through his nose, “There are many more differences between us that you don’t know. That even I don’t know. That’s why I wanted to talk to you, you looked like somebody who wouldn’t mind it. And I thought that someone with such a nice smile could not be just plain evil,” he smiled and squeezed his arm around Paul’s shoulders.

The last sentence made Paul blush and look awkwardly down at his swinging feet. He felt how Richard stretched himself, as his hand slid down his back to grab the wood. His whole body shook and droplets of water fell into the water and on Paul. Suddenly a yawn escaped Paul’s mouth. He looked at his watch; four in the morning, if he was supposed to work tomorrow or be at least a bit productive before the noon he should get back. He turned to the side, sticking one leg out of the water and looked up at the merman.

“Look, it was nice talking to you, but I need to be functional tomorrow. Today. I’ll have to get back,” he tried to smile as sincerely as possible and to make it genuine, he put his hand onto Richard’s tail to the place where he thought a thigh would usually be. Plus he was really curious of how the scales felt to the touch. Surprisingly smooth.

 Richard jerked a bit, not expecting Paul’s hand. He looked down at it and then smiled. “I understand. Go, I’ll be sure to catch you somewhere some other time,” he took Paul’s hand into his own, lifted it and then slowly slithered back into the water while still holding onto it. Because of that Paul had to lean above the water and was almost expecting Richard to drag him into the water, but he just smiled and slowly submerged himself under it. When he finally let go of his hand, Richard turned himself around raising his tail in goodbye and playfully splashing water all over Paul. Then he quickly disappeared under the moonlit water. Paul wanted to scream as he was now wet and sticky from the salty water, but he didn’t want to wake Till and raise suspicion.

He made his way quickly inside and headed straight into the bathroom for a brisk shower. When he was getting rid of the wet clothes he stopped to look at his reflection in the mirror and had to internally scoff; there was faint, but a persistent smile. After all of his business in the bathroom he made a bee line straight into his bed. Perfectly snuggling into his blanket, Paul fell quickly asleep, the songs lulling him into the land of dreams.


	5. Underwater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Psst. If anyone would like to come and bother me, you can find me at naraism.tumblr.com - you can just send me random pictures of Paul and I'll be the happiest girl in the world ^.^

Of course he woke up late. The sun was already high in the skies, shining, and making the inside of Paul’s room unbearably hot. He slowly got up, stretching all of his muscles and then looked at the time. It was almost midday which explained the hot weather and stuffiness. He changed his clothes into a pair of trunks, not bothering to put a t-shirt on. When Paul got down into the kitchen, he found it empty; Till must’ve gone somewhere to work. And yes, as Paul was waiting for his coffee to be made he saw Till outside, carrying around fish. Most probably those that Paul did not pick up at his last checkpoint thanks to a certain someone. He took his coffee out, grabbed a bowl of fruit to go with it and headed out onto the porch.

Now everything in the daylight looked so different, it made Paul feel that the last night’s conversation was just a blurry dream, but one look towards the pier made Paul think otherwise. He could see the place where he and Richard sat, the sound of the creaky wooden planks and the smell of the sea helping him revive his memories. Paul sighed and fished out a couple of grapes, popping them one by one into his mouth. He again checked on Till and saw him finishing up his current work. Till looked up, noticed Paul and started moving towards the cottage.

“Not planning on escaping then?” he asked as a form of greeting.

“What makes you think I haven’t packed my stuff already and am not just eating before the journey?” Paul sheepishly smiled, while nodding his head towards his room.

“Well, maybe that you’re just standing here, doing nothing while looking quite pleased. I was half expecting you’d be dragging your bags out of here by now.”

“Yeah, I kind of decided to give it here another chance. If anything goes bad, then it’s your ass on the line.”

“Don’t worry I get it. As I told you yesterday, you may never see that guy again and they won’t confront you just because they’re bored. You’re safe here. And as it looks like you had plenty of time to sleep on it.” Till smiled and patted Paul on his back. “Don’t get used to it though, I’ll need you down here and on the sea.”

Paul realized that Till was sleeping while he encountered Richard for the second time. He did not know about their chat nor of the promise that Richard made, that he would visit Paul more often. Paul didn’t know if he should or should not tell about it to Till; the bigger man knew these waters and the creatures at least a little bit and any kind of advice would be welcomed. On the the other hand Till could forbid him from ever again going onto the sea, not letting him go anywhere alone and the thought of having him everywhere behind his ass made Paul a bit frustrated. For the short time he spent here he absolutely fell in love with going out onto the sea. It gave him such a feeling of freedom he hasn’t felt in ages, he wasn’t about to give it up. Moreover, Richard repeatedly told him that he doesn’t want to hurt Paul so where is the harm? As long as Paul stays in the shallows he should not encounter any kind of problems with his new friend. So he decided to keep this to himself.

“Oh you know, the stress from that day probably got me and I slept through the whole night. And most of the day.”

“Well then. While you were getting your beauty sleep, I finished your yesterday’s job, so you won’t have to immediately return back there.” Till snorted and moved his hand in the vague direction of where the rocky islands were. “We’re gonna go into the village again to sell the catch and then stop at a few places, including at Ollie’s, okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. Just point me where I should be.” Paul nodded.

So after cleaning his late breakfast, Paul went to help Till with loading his pickup again with iceboxes, empty petrol tanks and some general waste that Till needed to get rid off. They rode into the village, ready to sell their catch and refill missing goods. When the fish were sold, Till left Paul on one of the beaches giving him instructions, money and a list while going away to the nearest gas station. Paul quite easily found Ollie’s shop, with surf boards, water skis, and all kinds of inflatable rings and toys laying around. The man himself was in one of his easy chairs, legs propped up and a beer in his hand. He was watching a young couple which has borrowed his jetski but as soon as Paul came into his vision he stopped, got up and smiled.

“Hey Paul, How’re you doing?” he shook the smaller man’s hand.

“Hey Ollie. Quite good, thanks. Till sent me here with a list of things he’s gonna need to buy from you. I hope you can read his handwriting, cos I sure as hell can’t. Paul laughed as he gave Ollie the list.

Ollie’s brow furrowed as he went through it, stroking his beard and humming faintly. “I think he wants back his scuba equipment. A few tubes were too old so he had them changed here. Also wants you to buy your own wetsuit? Does that make sense?”

“I guess so. I didn’t plan on anything beyond free diving here but Till has most likely some other plans.”

“Right. Let me get the equipment and then we can look for the suit.” Ollie nodded to himself and disappeared in the shop.

Meanwhile Paul had the time to look around. The beach was sparsely occupied. Not even half of the capacity the beach could take was filled with couples and a few families. It really showed that this place was not in the centre of touristic attention and that the holiday season yet had to begin. Olli brought the first scuba set, Paul saw how difficult was to move that heavy thing around and wondered how was he going to return with all of his stuff back to Till. He then helped Ollie to take out the second one and put it down into the shade.

“Now, come inside and let me help you. It shouldn’t be so hard to choose one for you.” Ollie led Paul inside the air conditioned shop and showed him around. While picking up a few suits he told the smaller man about all of the things he sells there or the little adrenaline adventures that people can pay here for. “I’ve always loved water sports, I just didn’t want to do them professionally and Germany is not exactly a good place for businesses like these as you can imagine. So I’ve moved around Europe, working for all kinds of people first and then after getting enough experience I’ve settled here. It’s a wonderful place here, has enough to get you through your life but lacks the everyday chaos of big cities and overfilled hotels with noisy people. It’s just perfect.”

Paul could see the small smile on Ollie’s face as he was explaining everything and soon they both got lost in their conversation. They haven’t even realized that Till has arrived and was standing right at the threshold.

“I think that that one suits you quite well, Paul.” he said and immediately laughed as both men jumped.

“Holly hell Till! Couldn’t you have just knocked or something?” Paul’s shocked expression slowly changed slowly into a smile. Till just laughed under his breath and came further into the shop. “Anyway, why do you want me to get a wetsuit? I don’t see any proper way I’d using it.”

“Sooner or later you’ll go diving with me, be it either because of work or just for fun. And you can’t really dive for a longer time without it. Plus you can use it even when you’re just in water and shit, so you won’t get sun burnt.” Till explained and while looking at Paul. The smaller man had a wetsuit which ended at his knees and was short sleeved, therefore didn’t restrict him as much as the overalls did.

Paul looked at Ollie and shrugged, “it fits well, so I guess I’ll be taking it. How much do I owe you?”

…

After everything was settled, Ollie helped them to put the scuba equipment back onto the pickup and made them promise that they have to sometime visit him for a couple of beers and a good night. With a last stop at the grocery shop Till turned the car back onto the old dusty road and headed straight back to their cottage. While they were on the way Paul thought about Richard and if he will see him again tonight. He didn’t want to meet him only during nights though. Not only would it fuck up his sleeping schedule, Paul also got curious about the merman and wanted to see him in proper light. Maybe he could even persuade Till to let him go diving alone with the scuba set, that would give him a completely different view of things. But he doubted that would happen anytime soon.

When they returned back, Paul had to help Till carry all of the stuff around, from putting the scuba sets into a small closet in the cottage to carrying the petrol tanks into the cellar under one the the barns, some of it taking down to the pier and refuelling the boat. Some work in the gardens, and it was already getting late. Paul volunteered to make the dinner which they again enjoyed out on the porch. With some delight Paul noticed that Till had an acoustic guitar hidden among hoards of maps and papers in the living room. Naturally he took it out, tried to tune it as best as he could and when he was satisfied, he started to strum a random melody. Till had to smile, it reminded him a lot of the songs they used to listen back home, but this sounded more serene. Perfect addition to the evening beer.

…

Paul felt a bit disappointed when that night Richard didn’t appear at the pier. He of course wasn’t awake the whole night just waiting for him, when his watch beeped two in the morning he lost his hope and just fell asleep. The next few days weren’t any different, Paul got slowly back into his daily routine and the longer it took for the merman to appear again the more he became irritated. A couple of times he messed up easy tasks just because he was so deep in thought and didn’t pay attention. He didn’t want Till to get suspicious so he always tried to find an excuse but even those were starting to run short. What made him feel a bit better were the evening calls with his kids. His daughter was just a little young girl and she was very concerned why is not daddy home. He wanted to return, but if that happened his life would just turn into a screaming fest.

Three days later while Paul had some free time he took the boat and drove back into the cove, where he fished with Till. He hoped that maybe he could find the lost rod which he so stupidly threw away. After he anchored the boat, He put on his goggles, the fins and jumped into the water. It was not that deep, if he concentrated enough he could swim to the bottom and pick the rod up if he saw it, but the chance of even finding it was pretty low. Still he wanted to give it a try as Till had described that thing as being very expensive. He swam back and forth, up and down, repeatedly diving and searching but nothing could have been found. He even tried to search closer to the rock range which he had by his left side, but the waves were quite strong there and he did not want to end with a concussion. So he returned closer to the boat and he again dove down, looking around and yet finding nothing.

“Dammit.” he cursed to himself when cleaned his goggles in the water.

“Looking for something?” a voice behind him asked.

Paul’s curses got a lot more colourful as he spun around and found no one else but Richard behind him. _How could I not feel him swimming near me?_ Paul thought as he looked at the merman’s face. “Wh-Where have you been? And could you please warn me somehow about your presence next time? Otherwise you’re gonna give me a damn stroke.” Paul started to babble.

“Aw, you’ve missed me?” Giggled Richard as he swam a bit closer to Paul. “I tried to find you sooner; but it’s hard to do so, when you still spend most of the time on land, y’know. And okay, I will try to warn you, don’t know how but I will try.”

“Thanks. Anyway to answer your question; yes I was looking for something. I’ve accidently dropped Till’s fishing rod over there on that beach,” Paul pointed a finger behind himself, “and the fish has dragged it straight into the sea. It was actually because of you, your tail had scared me.” He accusatively raised his eyebrows at Richard.

“My tail had scared you? Why?” Richard cocked one of his eyebrows and then smirked. While Paul wasn’t exactly paying attention to what was happening under him, Richard coiled his tail so it could lightly wrap around one of Paul’s legs. The jump and Paul’s curses made Richard laugh, but he didn’t want to just make fun of the smaller man so he put his tail back and continued, “Till’s rod? You mean this one?”

Paul’s eyes widened as he saw the merman raise his arm from under water – it was indeed the fishing rod. Bit scratched and the strings were ripped, but otherwise in good condition.

“Yes! Yes, thank you! This is so great!” Paul’s face lit up as he took the rod from the merman and slowly swam back to the boat so he could throw it on it. When he backed of away from the ship he accidentally bumped into Richard, who was right behind him.

 _Does he not know what personal space is? Probably not._ Were Paul’s thoughts as he turned around. There was not much space to move as Richard had unknowingly boxed him in between himself and the boat.

“So. Thank you. I can now return it to Till, if-if you let me get on the boat.”

“On the boat? But you’ve been here for such a short time and you already want to leave? I deserve some kind of a reward for this, y’know.” Richard cocked his head and swam around Paul, nudging him away from his transport.

“Reward? What kind of reward?”

“Hmm,” Richard mischievously hummed while looking at Paul. Oh, he knew about all kinds of rewards, but today he felt rather playful. And he didn’t want to scare Paul off. “Just play with me here for a while. It’s gonna be fun, you’ll see.” He put on his most convincing smile.

“I guess I could do that. It’s not like I have to be back at the fishery anytime soon.” Paul had to snort at Richard’s joy, “what do you have in mind exactly?”

“Come,” the merman said as he swam away from the boat, head submerging underwater.

Paul sighed, put his goggles back over his eyes and followed him. He didn’t dive down, just watched as Richard twisted and turned among the rocks and corals, chasing fish and scaring other unfortunate life forms. The merman looked above himself and beckoned Paul to follow him yet again. Paul was a bit afraid to dive down, he could not stay down there like Richard could but nonetheless, he took a few deep breaths, moved his fins and dove down. He did not stop down at the bottom though, Paul just swam straight ahead and around Richard. While he was circling the merman he noticed the opened slits under his arms on his chest; three pairs, slightly opened and of reddish colour inside. Those must have been his gills, Paul realized as he came face to face with him. He watched as his chest puffed and with each breath the gills have slightly widened and then closed again. Richard grinned at him and swam closer but at that time Paul had to go back to the surface for air. A few deep breaths and back down he went.

Richard joined him and started swimming momentarily under him, then switching from one side to the other. When Paul wanted to get some air again, Richard grabbed one of his legs and thrusted him playfully back down, away from the surface. Paul started to freak out as there were still a few meters to go, he was running low on oxygen and it all looked like the merman didn’t know or didn’t care. He yanked his leg away or at least tried as hard as he could, considering that he was under water and that the man holding him was much stronger, while he also tried simultaneously swim for the surface again which looked so far away. Paul’s brain went into a full panic mode that he didn’t even realize Richard had swam behind and grabbed him by his sides and carried him up himself. Only when Paul discovered that he can breathe again and felt the air on his wet face he became aware of the hands on his sides and the giggling that came from behind him.

“You idiot! Don’t do that! I can’t breathe underwater!” Paul quickly turned around, forcing Richard to release him.

“Well that’s why helped you up. I can swim much faster than you, y’know.”

“That’s not the point! If you do this kind of stuff to people they will freak out! You can’t even imagine how scary that is, I thought I’m about to be drowned.” Paul was angrily babbling but as he continued he could see the genuine hurt in Richard’s expression.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry. But so you know, if you wanna see how it looks like down there, just hold onto me. You’ll see so much more.” Richard apologized and extended his hand towards Paul, hopefully waiting for him to take it.

Paul turned his face away, exhaling loudly, “okay, we can try that. But let me breathe for a second, I don’t have those fancy gills of yours,” he vaguely pointed his arm towards Richard’s chest which made the merman smile. After few deep breaths he took Richard’s hand and nodded, signalling the merman that he’s ready. Richard’s hand gripped him hard and then he dove down again, almost knocking all the air from Paul with his speed. It really took them only a few short seconds to get to the bottom, where Richard started to drag Paul among the rocks and into all kinds of crevices. It made Paul feel as if he was actually flying, or at least hovering above ground. But sooner than later he had to tug at Richard’s hand and point him towards the surface. The merman stopped and nodded, Paul thought that he will either let him go alone back again or that he will take him by his hand, but instead Richard grabbed him again by his sides and rose with him up. If he didn’t need the help, Paul would have tried to squeeze out of this embrace; he was not used to this kind of careless closeness. Certainly not from a man, or well, a merman.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Richard started asking even before Paul could take his first breath. It still took him a couple of seconds to get his breathing under control and then he took his goggles off to clean them in the water. All this time Richard still held onto Paul, unconsciously rubbing him slightly with his fingertips.

“No, it wasn’t,” Paul awkwardly smiled. He did not know how to tell Richard that he could stop holding him, that he is perfectly capable of staying still alone.

“It’s a bit clumsy though, I don’t like this repetitive swims back to the surface. The real fun is down there.”

“Yeah, well, I still have to breathe somehow. And until Till teaches me how to use the scuba set I can’t be down there for longer than a few seconds, a minute or two at max.”

“I don’t like those things either. They’re too bulky.” Richard grimaced. Then a thought came to his mind which made him smirk mischievously at Paul, “I could help you with the breathing, y’know.” He moved closer to Paul, raising a bit into the air and looming slightly over him. He moved his face closer to Paul’s, cocked his head and looked at his lips.

When Paul realized what Richard had in mind, or at least the vague idea of it, he started to furiously blush. He furrowed his brow and looked away, “I-I don’t think that’ll be necessary, okay?” He swallowed hard and tried to move a bit away from the smirking merman. “Lets just continue, you can show me a few nice places around here and then I’ll have get back to Till. He’ll want the boat back soon anyway,” Paul finished as he tried to direct the attention elsewhere, namely at his watch.

“Sure,” if it was possible Richard smirked even more and then dove back into the water. Paul had to calm a bit from the merman’s cluelessness about personal space and then followed him back underwater. They chased each other for a couple of minutes which was an activity they both enjoyed, even though it was too easy for the merman to catch him. Paul also showed Richard how exactly the human legs work and why does he need those fins (which Richard found hilarious). After some more time of fooling around Paul climbed back onto the boat, saying good bye to Richard. He also promised that every other day he will try to meet him at the pier at night to talk about all the things the merman is curious about and vice versa. Richard also promised that he’ll try to get to Paul more often on the sea while not scaring him to his death when meeting him. With a final pat on Paul’s hand Richard dove down and disappeared under the boat.

Paul returned back to the fishery and gave Till back his lost fishing rod. Till was overjoyed, catching the smaller man in a bear hug, thanking him, “How the hell did you manage to find it? It’s almost impossible to find something especially when a fish is hooked to it.”

“Well, you know,” Paul avoided Till’s eyes, “I just searched a lot and found it stuck between a couple of rocks.”

Till seemed satisfied with the answer and after inspecting the rod and finding it still in a good condition, he patted Paul on his back. Together they returned into the cottage and relaxed till the evening, just Paul playing on the guitar again, quietly singing with Till. After dinner and a short discussion about their future plans of what they should do they bid each other a good night and parted ways. Till stayed on the porch, rocking in his chair while trying to write his poems; he claimed that during the day his muse caught him and he finally knows what to write. Paul left him alone and left to take a shower. His muscles were a bit sore after all the swimming, but instead of irritating pain it brought him only warm thoughts and created a smile on his face. _Who knew I’m gonna find a friend like that?_ Paul thought as he returned to his room, took off his clothes and looked out of his windows. He left the windows open and crawled into his bed, snuggling deep into his blanket. About an hour later he could hear Till getting up from his chair and turning off the lights, most likely returning inside to get ready to bed as well. When everything calmed down and even Till’s light in his room went off, Paul picked up again the faint melodies of the mermaids’ songs. It was the perfect lullaby and before he completely fell asleep, he definitely heard certain someone’s voice singing with the rest of the creatures.


	6. Getting To Know Each Other

The days went on as exactly as the two men agreed upon. Every other night they secretly met on the pier, talking for hours about nothing and everything. Richard got fascinated with Paul’s everyday life, he was especially delighted when one night Paul had described him how he works in studios and helps other people to ‘create’ music. He then proceeded to ask him what kind of music it is which lead to Paul teaching the merman about all the possible genres that he knew of and worked with.

“I used to play on a guitar in a band when I was younger. We mostly just fooled around, but it still helped me later to find a proper job when my ex-girlfriend got pregnant.”

“Guitar? Is that the the thing you sometimes take out in the evening with Till?” Richard raised his eyebrows, looking at Paul. The merman was submerged in the water, only his upper half of his body was sticking out; he laid on his belly on a small rock in front of the pier. Paul as usually sat on it, swinging his legs in the water.

“Wait, you are watching us even during the evenings?” Now was time for Paul to get surprised, “I didn’t even notice you.”

“You’re not very good at noticing things. And if I don’t want to be seen I can hide pretty well.”

“So nice of you to say that. But yes, that wooden thing with strings is a guitar. There are also electric ones, but they sound a bit different. You just strum on the strings, move your fingers and together create melodies and then whole songs. Those that I played were mostly songs from my band.”

“Your own? Aren’t you talented,” Richard smiled at him and wiggled his his tail, “Can you next time bring the guitar here? I want to hear you play. Or bring it here now. Pretty please.”

Paul had to laugh at Richard’s attempt at puppy eyes and his blinking. He was unsatisfiable, “I can’t. It would wake up Till and if I played it only lightly, you wouldn’t get the full experience. Let me bring it tomorrow to our spot, okay? I can play there if you want it so much.”

“That would be wonderful. Is it difficult to learn it?”

“Well, that depends. Some people have talent and learn pretty quickly and some need teachers and hours of practice. I’ve learned it on my own though. I played for hours everyday so I could become as good as the other kids.”

“On your own? Then you must be really talented,” Richard smiled as he slithered of the rock and towards Paul.

“Ah, well, it’s not that difficult,” Paul got a bit flustered as the merman swam close to him, settling almost between his legs.

“Can I see you hands? You must have pretty nimble fingers,” Richard didn’t even wait for Paul’s allowance and just gently picked them into his own. He inspected them, rubbing his thumbs over Paul’s knuckles and down his fingertips.

“It’s something you acquire w-with practise,” Paul’s voice hitched as Richard squeezed his hands and turned them around, first taking his left hand into his own and inspecting each digit alone. Paul realized that even though Richard spent his life in the sea, his hands were still warm and smooth. The merman brushed his fingertips over Paul’s calluses and then intertwined their fingers, squeezing his hand. Paul looked quizzically at Richard who was already looking back, smiling. He slowly let go of the hand, only stopping to gently squeeze Paul’s fingers. Richard then moved towards his right hand picking it up as well and inspecting it just as thoroughly.

“Why are you so fascinated with them? They’re really similar if not the same as yours,” Paul murmured.

“I like your hands, I like how you can see that you work with them. And they’re a bit different after all, we don’t have these,” Richard stroked Paul’s hairs on his arm which gave the smaller man goose-bumps. The more he encountered the merman the friendlier he got. At first it only meant a few unexpected touches here and there but then he permanently started to swim up close to Paul. When he finally got kind of used to the touches, Richard started to grab him, hang onto him and occasionally even hug him from behind and just plain hold him. He wouldn’t be so flustered if it happened once or twice but having a naked man hanging off him almost every time they met was not what he expected to do when he arrived to Till’s.

“They don’t really have any functi-ow! Don’t tug them, it hurts!” Paul jerked a bit as Richard grabbed a few of his hairs by his fingertips and pulled on them. While Richard was busy with giggling, Paul smirked and lightly jabbed a leg into the merman’s belly which resulted in Richard yelping and falling a bit back into the water. Now was time for Paul to laugh at the merman, yet he didn’t really have the chance as Richard threw himself onto Paul and in one swift move fell back into the water, dragging the man with him. Paul didn’t even have the time to properly scream as he was already under water and struggling to get away.  Richard emerged with him from the water and was laughing yet again.

“I won!” he cackled as he held onto Paul who was spitting out the sea water.

“Shush! You don’t wanna wake up Till!” Paul slapped the playful merman on his chest and wanted to get away from him to get back onto the pier, but Richard still held onto him, gently swaying him and carrying him away from the pier.

“Uh, Richard, will you let me go?”

“Why? I can carry you around and you don’t even have to move.” Richard cocked his head as he almost laid Paul onto himself, while moving slowly around.

“Because it’s too cold for me. And, um, it’s kind of awkward, I’m not really used to this kind of closeness.”

“But I’m not doing anything weird, am I? And you said you are married; I thought you are used to people being close to you,” Richard stopped and was genuinely confused.

“Being married to a woman is something completely different, I suppose that’s something we don’t have in common,” Paul tried to again push himself a bit away, making Richard loosen his grip a bit. When he moved away, still not enough for the merman to let him go, he kind of regretted it; Richard emitted pleasant warmth in the cold water, “moreover, it’s not an everyday thing to do this with a man, at least not for me.” He added awkwardly.

“But you said that you are most likely finished with your marriage? And why wouldn’t you let other men get friendly with you?”

Oh god, this was just getting more and more awkward for Paul. He didn’t feel like explaining to Richard how the human relationships worked, especially when his turned to shit and Richard’s people most likely led their lives without any regard for personal orientations. But the merman was relentless and kept Paul challenging with his curious face. So he swallowed his pride and tried to make sense to what he was about to explain.

“Our friendships are not so, well, not so intimate. And yes, while it looks like I’m about to divorce, still, I’ve been married to a _woman_. I’m not saying that there are not people swinging for both sides or just one way or the other, but all my life I’ve only been with women. Do you understand me?” If it weren’t for the shroud of darkness, Richard would’ve been able to perfectly see just how much was Paul red.

“Probably. You’re basically saying you’re awkward and don’t know how to act around strangers.” Richard smirked as he playfully twisted around with Paul still in his arms.

“I’m not awkward!” Paul murmured, puffing his cheeks and looking away from Richard.

“Yes you are. Awkward and cute.” the merman had finally let him go only to splash water onto him.

“Not cute. Not awkward! If anything, I’m charming and handsome, as I’ve been told.”

“You can be all of those things. You _are_ all of those things.” Richard smiled as he yet again started to circle Paul who was trying to swim slowly towards the beach.

Richard’s compliments made Paul mutter under his breath, he was not used to a man paying him so much attention. Scratch that, this man was straight up flirting with him. The only time when he received any kind of compliments from a man were when he and a couple of his friends stumbled half drunk into one of the many Berlin’s gay bars, but nothing ever more. Now he had a mesmerized merman stuck to him, who apparently had to shower him in those things. Sometimes he felt like he could just cut the connection between them but then his brain kicked in and told him that why would he try to get away from a mythical creature such as Richard? Some people would die for even seeing a mermaid and here he was, getting followed by one like a lost puppy. And while the compliments felt a bit awkward they certainly helped him to get his confidence slowly back. He would have to lie if he didn’t say that his ego did not inflate a little bit every time Richard praised him. The time he spent in water helped him work out on his physique and Richard’s compliments raised his mental health. It would be a shame to get away from him.

He was so deep in thought that the only thing that has made him think clearly was the sand scraping his knees as he arrived to the shore. He walked out and sat on the edge, where the water stopped. Paul watched as the merman swam closer as well, his whole body appearing from the water. It was so unusual to see his whole body outside of water like this; while he was extremely agile deep down, here on the beach he just had to slowly slither up the sand to reach Paul. When he was next to him, Richard laid on his back and supported himself by his elbows, stretching his tail straight in front of him. _Jesus, he really is huge_. Paul thought as he tried to measure the merman. While his upper body was the usual size of a fully grown man, his tail stretched much further than any human legs would. Paul guessed that the merman had to at least have around three meters from head to the end of his tail. He then looked up at Richard’s toned chest and saw that the slits with gills were tightly shut, barely even visible on his chest. That made Paul think about how the mermaids breathed and overall how they functioned. But before he could get too deep into their biology and make things awkward again he pointed with his head to Richard’s chest.

“How do you breathe now? I saw that when you’re underwater the gills do the work but now you have them closed.”

“They’re closed because I can breathe through them only underwater. I would suffocate if I tried to do that here,” Richard smiled as he unconsciously rubbed on of his sides with his hand. Paul’s eyes were glued to those small movements as he watched with interest Richard’s fingers caressing across the slits, “When I’m above water I just do it the same way you do, through my nose or my mouth,” he bumped them with his forefinger, “down my throat and into my lungs,” he slithered his finger down and over his necklace, as he explained it, while looking Paul dead in the eyes, “and when I’m underwater I don’t use my nose nor my throat, obviously.”

Paul loudly swallowed as he followed the finger. _Why does he have to make everything look so intimate?_ “O-okay, thank you,” while he was at it, Paul braved another question. He was also starting to shudder from the cold, after all swimming in the middle of the night with no sun to warm him was one of the less pleasant experiences, “You also know that I’m married, well, am so far; but what about you? Do you guys marry?” This question was honestly bothering him for a couple of days.

Richard emitted a throaty laugh, throwing his head back and then smiling back at Paul, “No, no, we don’t do that kind of stuff. It would be pointless, really. There are not many males to go around as you know, so it would be bit unfair for the rest of the girls. We group together sometimes, two, three, four of us staying closer than with the others, but never for too long. Some of the girls tend to make lifelong partnerships though. They even raise their children together, instead of leaving them to the dedicated nannies,” Richard turned onto his side and continued, “I personally stayed away from all of this. Just a couple of times I joined the others for some fun or got together with the other men but never for too long. And all the, uh, frustration I gathered when I was alone was released during the courting seasons, the ladies get extra playful, y’know. And, well, so do the boys,” Richard wiggled his eyebrows and had to laugh at Paul’s flustered reaction.

“I think that was a bit too much information, Reesh,” muttered Paul. A yawn has followed it, signalling him that he won’t be functioning for much longer.

“Reesh? I like that.”

“I’m glad, as much as Richard is a nice name, it’s still bit of a mouthful. Therefore, Reesh,” he yawned again, “Look, I’ll have to get back again but I promise that tomorrow I’ll bring the guitar over, okay? You can even try to play it yourself if you’ll want.”

“If you’ll teach me then gladly,” he put a hand on Paul’s thigh, squeezing it lightly. Paul didn’t have the energy to tell him that he put his hand a bit too close to his crotch so he just gently raised himself while letting Richard’s hand slid down.

“Okay. Good night then, Reesh.”

“Good night, Paul.”


	7. Guitar Lessons

As he promised, Paul took the guitar to their afternoon meet up. He had to smuggle it so Till wouldn’t get suspicious why is he taking it away when he doesn’t have any time during his work. When Paul arrived to the first cages away from Till’s watchful eyes, Richard was already waiting for him there, ready to help him empty the cages so he could spend more time with Paul.

“Ah, my trusty helper so eager to help me,” Paul greeted the merman, shutting off the engine and throwing down the anchor.

“You’ve promised me you’ll teach me to play the guitar, so I want to spend as much time with you as possible,” Richard answered as he was already handing over the first cage, “and I want to hear you play, properly this time.”

With Richard’s help everything really did go faster, Paul didn’t have to reel the cages up by himself, he just quickly pulled the correct fish out into the tanks and threw the cages back into the water. What would take him normally the whole afternoon took him not even an hour to finish, so soon he was perched on one of the many rocky islands, guitar in his lap and a basket with his lunch by his side. Richard was coiled in front of him, leaning with his back on one of the rocks.

“Okay, before we start let me have my lunch. The last thing I ate was a small breakfast.”

“Can I look at the guitar then?” Richard pointed to the instrument.

“Sure, just don’t break it and don’t pluck on those strings, I wouldn’t be surprised if you managed to tear them,” Paul handed it to him and then proceeded to pick his sandwiches out of the basket. He watched as the merman inspected the guitar; turning it around, peeking inside and then slowly running his fingers over the strings. Then he tried to mimic Paul by kind of positioning it into his lap and putting his hands onto it. When he thought that he held it correctly enough he looked with a hopeful smile towards Paul. Paul returned the smile with his mouth full of his sandwich which made Richard laugh a little.

“What? I’m hungry.”

“You look rather cute with your mouth stuffed like that,” Richard giggled, “what is it anyway?”

“Just an ordinary baguette filled witch chicken, some vegetables and a dressing,” Paul saw as the merman curiously eyed his lunch. He sighed, he really did not want to share it but keeping the food just for himself didn’t look like an opinion, “do you want to taste it?”

He didn’t even wait for Richard’s answer and already passed him the second half. Even though he had to say good bye to it, Paul still found it amusing as the merman inspected the sandwich and then took a huge bite. His amusement turned into a full grin as he watched Richard wolf down the entire thing, humming appreciatively. Paul took out a can of beer, popped it open and also passed it towards him.

“And that’s what?” He asked with his mouth full, still finishing the baguette.

“Beer. It helps you cool down and digest. A wonderful invention.”

Richard cautiously grabbed the can and after swallowing the last bit of his food he sniffed the can, “smells weird.”

“Maybe. Maybe you won’t even like it, everybody reacts to it differently,” Paul said just as he took a swing from his own can.

The smaller man started to laugh as Richard took his first sips and grimaced immediately. Only after a few more careful sips did it look like the merman didn’t mind the taste. Paul got a bit scared when he saw how quickly then Richard chugged the can down, handing it back empty and quite satisfied. He blamed Richard’s gluttony on his (most likely) fast metabolism.

“What do you eat normally? I don’t think you guys cook, right?” Paul asked as he was finishing his own part of the sandwich.

“Mostly fish, unsurprisingly. Sometimes fallen fruits or anything nice and edible that ends up in the sea. Sometimes we get our hands on food from you guys, but those are rare occasions, mostly only when a ship sinks,” Richard flashed him another smile as he yet again tried to grip the guitar correctly.

Paul felt a bit bad for Richard. He knew that the merman is used to eating fish but not to experience all the possible things that he can get his hands on land? He had to change that; Paul decided that if he takes more food from the cottage from time to time then it won’t hurt anybody. He finished his last bite, washed it down with his beer and hinted that he wants the guitar back. Richard returned it, even though he did not want to, so at least he moved a bit closer so he could see properly what was Paul doing. Meanwhile Paul put the guitar in his lap and stretched one leg in front of him while letting the guitar rest on the other. Then he tried to tune it a bit, individually striking each string and listening to it closely while tightening them.

When he was satisfied enough, he picked up his pick and struck the strings. The sound made Richard perch up and smile; that’s what he came for. Paul then started to pluck on the strings, moving his left hand on the neck and pressing his fingers down. It all looked so confusing and difficult to Richard but the sound that came from the instrument was heavenly. The melody was serene as it was when he secretly listened to it on Till’s beach but now he was only a few centimetres from the source. He was so mesmerized by Paul’s moving fingers and the melodies that he didn’t even realize the said man was watching him closely, Richard’s own curiosity making him fondly smile at him. Only when Paul was finished with the song did he look up, straight into Paul’s eyes.

“That was beautiful. Really Paul, I’ve never heard something so magical. You should be proud of your work.”

“Thank you,” Paul felt blood rushing to his cheeks so he just hung his head low, trying to think of another tune, “There are of course these slow and relaxing songs, but there also much different ones,” he proceed move his fingers into a different position, now playing a song which  was much more energetic and aggressive. That made Richard smirk and he again watched with great interest Paul’s hands. He also liked how Paul kept bobbing his head with the rhythm, moving it from side to side and unconsciously making small grimaces. All these little quirks and the beautiful music made Richard grin and scoop even closer to Paul. Now he was basically leaning over his lap, watching Paul’s fingers play with the strings.

Paul played a couple of more melodies, strumming and jamming, he even tried to show some easy chords so Richard could possibly learn them but as it is with all beginners, the task was not easy. Still, he managed to play on the instrument for almost two hours or so. When his fingers felt tired, he put the guitar away and finished his own beer. Paul didn’t want to yet disappear but he also felt too tired and too comfy to go fool around into the water, so he just sighed and laid down, making himself comfortable.

Richard watched him and as Paul laid down he asked, “you’re not gonna go swimming with me?”

“Nah, too tired, wanna have a nap now. You can join me though,” he patted the spot next to him.

The merman kept staring at him but when Paul put a cap over his eyes, he knew that Paul won’t move. So instead he made himself comfortable as well, stretching his tail over the rock, the end hanging freely in the air. Richard laid on his belly and rested his head on his arms. For a short time he watched Paul’s breathing before he too, fell asleep.

…

Paul woke up by a cold wind tickling his arms and exposed legs. He stretched his legs and felt a heavy weight on his belly. Slowly, he took the cap from his eyes and the first thing he has discovered was that the sun was already on its way down. The second thing was that Richard stayed with him, except he moved from his spot next to him straight onto him. The merman was sleeping with his head resting on his belly, his hands spread on the rest of his chest, one of them even holding his arm. Paul stared at Richard's peaceful face, what was he supposed to do? He didn’t want to startle him, God knows how would the merman react, so how should he wake him? Paul then decided to gently put his hand into Richard’s hair and stroke it smoothly while quietly uttering his name. Richard’s hair was surprisingly soft to the touch, considering it was rather spiky and full of salt. The merman still did not answer, so Paul started to massage his scalp and temples, speaking bit more loudly.

“Richaard, Reesh, wake up. I’ll have to go back.”

A grunt was his answer. Well, at least he woke up. Richard proceed to nuzzle his face into Paul’s belly, putting his arms around his chest and squeezing it tightly, “I don’t want you to go, you’re comfy,” he mumbled as he snuggled into Paul’s chest, still not opening his eyes.

“If you won’t let me go Till will start to worry where I’m and will start looking for me. You don’t want him to find me and forbid me from seeing you ever again, do you, you big lazy fish?” Paul tried to persuade Richard as he still stroked his hair.

“Now you’re just blackmailing me,” Richard again mumbled into his chest as he slowly moved his head up, closer towards Paul’s.

“Am not. I’m just stating the truth. Look, we’ll see each other tomorrow and I can start teaching you more properly, okay?”

The idea of more possible lessons with Paul made Richard smile. He raised his head and looked into Paul’s eyes. He was still lying pretty much atop of him; his upper body leaned on Paul’s chest, one of his hands resting on Paul’s collarbone while the other supported him above Paul.

“You promise? Tomorrow, same time, same place and the guitar?” Richard smiled hopefully.

“Y-yes, I promise,” Paul’s brain had barely enough time to wake up to go straight into another small panic mode. Richard was so close to him, he could smell him, he could feel the heat radiating from his skin and could also see the thoughts running behind the merman’s eyes. Suddenly, Richard leaned down and Paul’s brain was entering full panic mode. The merman cocked his head at the last possible moment and gently kissed Paul at the corner of his mouth.

“Thank you, Paul,” was the last thing Richard mumbled into the smaller man’s skin. Then he slowly got up, moved towards the edge of the rock and slid down into the sea.

Paul just continued to lay there, trying to remember how to breathe. When he calmed a bit, he collected his stuff, put it back into the boat and drove off back home. When Paul tied the boat back onto the pier and started carrying fish into the tanks, Till caught up with him to help him with the catch.

“Where were you so long? I was starting to get worried that something must’ve happened.”

“To be honest, nothing serious. I just kinda fell asleep for longer than I wanted to,” Paul lied. Well he didn’t completely lie but he of course did not want to mention Richard.

“Happens to the best of us. Next time you could just text me, that you’re having a break or something, okay? Looking for you and finding you somewhere dead or something would really spoil my night.”

“Wow, thanks for the honesty, Till. I didn’t know you cared about me that much,” Paul replied sarcastically.

…

Later that evening after dinner they were both sitting outside again. No guitar this time, they just listened to the quiet waves and the crickets all around them. Paul had to think about everything that has happened to him this day and every time he got stuck on the kiss that Richard gave him. He might have been just showing his gratitude - as Paul discovered before, personal space was something the merman was not familiar with. It still felt like more than that. And even though Paul thought of himself as a ladies’ man, he couldn’t shake off the warm feeling the memory was giving him. He even kept unconsciously stroking the side of his mouth where the merman had kissed him.

That night he left his windows open again just to hear the mermaids sing again.


	8. Diving

The next day started rather pleasantly. Till had announced that they’re going to take a day or two off as there’s not much to do. When they return from the village Till promised that he’ll take Paul further into the sea and teach him how to scuba dive, so after their short breakfast they loaded the pickup with yesterday’s catch and headed off. While Till went to the market place with their fish, Paul visited a few stores, buying groceries and stopping at local bakery, buying just a bit more than was necessary so he could share those things with Richard. Some sweet pastries, some chips, chocolate and all kind of things the merman does not know. He even scheduled a few meals he’s going to cook himself; no way that he wouldn’t introduce the merman to the world of fine steaks.

When Paul met again with Till he just sheepishly smiled and shrugged, his bags were unusually overflowing with food, “What, I want to cook as well. I’m getting a bit fed up with the fishy food of yours. No offence.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to buy half of the store. Anyway, I’ve met Ollie and he agreed to meet up tomorrow for a couple of beers. It’s time for you to visit the local bars. Might as well meet new people,” Till winked at him and took a bag from Paul, loading it into the truck.

“Going out with Ollie sounds great, meeting new people not so much.”

“What? You’re still gonna just mope around me? C’mon man, you should at least try to meet the local girls here, they’re sweet.”

Paul cast his eyes down, looking away from Till, “I don’t feel like meeting the ladies here, Till. Are you forgetting that I’m still married?” In reality, that wasn’t the reason why he didn’t want to hook up. Hooking up would mean he would have to spend more time on land with some foreign girl, instead of with Richard who was thousand times more interesting. Even though he seemed to be a bit invasive sometimes. _Like yesterday_. He sat into the passenger’s seat and watched as Till took off back to his fishery.

“You still believe you’re gonna fix that mess? You’ve been here for over a month and she still refuses to talk to you. The only message you’ve got from her was to _fuck off_.”

“I’m still not gonna do that, Till. Let me breathe and maybe later I’ll try to find somebody, okay? Now I just want to enjoy the peace here. And I want you to teach me to scuba dive, that is something I wanted to do from the start.”

“Okay, okay, you drama queen,” Till smiled as he watched the road, “At least you’ll see the night life here.”

Back at the fishery Till instructed Paul to go change into his wetsuit and collect some stuff like water bottles and a meal so they wouldn’t have to immediately return back from their trip. Paul got anxious, on one side he’s finally going to do something really exciting, on the other hand he promised Richard to meet with him again but he couldn’t imagine Richard swimming up to him when Till was around. And Gods know when he’ll return. Either way now he had to obey Till, too much suspicious behaviour could compromise his friendship witch the merman.

Once ready they both hopped into the boat; while Paul was preparing their food Till brought the apparatuses into it. He then proceeded to explain where they’re going and how everything works. They went further into the sea, beyond the rocky island and stopped at a place that looked like it had nothing to offer.

“There are actually a few rock formations under the water, they’re a bit dangerous as they damaged a few of the passing ships and even sunk two of them. Or maybe it wasn’t the rocks that sunk them. Maybe it was those water buggers you had a chance meeting,” Till smiled evilly as he put down the anchor.

Right. The mermaids. But Richard told him many times that they’re not that aggressive, only during their courting seasons. Must have been at that time then. He observed Till as he showed him all the tubes, clocks and straps that he will have to work with. He let Till help him to put it on and then waited for the bigger man to do the same to himself. With a nod they fell backwards into the water. Even with all the instructions Till still had to help Paul with the basics, before the smaller man understood what’s going on. Slowly, they let go of the air in their vests and descended down into the depths.

Once Paul got used to breathing under water he signalled Till that everything was okay and they slowly continued down. At first they swam just among the corals, Till keeping an eye on the smaller man and when he was sure that he won’t drown himself, Till signalled to move to a different place. They moved behind a couple of rocks and Paul got instantly amazed; stuck between the sharp edges laid a wreck. It was already covered in all kinds of seaweed and a bunch of fish schools swam around it. The windows were busted, there were holes at the bottom of the ship as well as on where the deck used to be. Till swam through one of the holes and showed Paul around, sometimes helping him move around, as he was quite clumsy with the robust apparatus strapped to his back. He then took him out by one of the holes at the bottom and as Paul was exiting it, he grabbed on of the metal sides and had to stop. There were actual scratch marks all over the bottom and now it really looked like the ship was torn open by claws rather than by a random rock. The mermaids had to do that, as far as he knows, there aren’t any fish with hands. Suddenly, Paul could not stop imagining the horrors the unfortunate souls that manned this ship had to go through. The thought of drowning and being ruthlessly killed for someone’s fun made him sick. He could not start panicking now though, he was too deep to just swim for the surface and he was strapped to the heavy bottle of oxygen. _Deep breaths._ He thought as he slowly calmed himself down. When he was back to his senses, Paul followed Till back to the safer places and stayed with him. Till than again signalled that Paul can now go wherever he wants, as long as he stays in the safe shallows.

At first Paul didn’t do anything more than to chase curious fish around and to observe a small octopus hiding under a rock when suddenly he saw a movement from corner of his eyes. Originally, he thought it was Till but when he raised his head he discovered he wandered into the sharp rocks and there was nobody around. Only when he turned again did he almost came face to face with Richard. Paul screamed, well, as best as he could with the breather in his mouth and jerked himself back away. Richard was clearly supressing a smile, biting his bottom lip. Paul punched him in the arm as strongly as he only could underwater, which in reality, was just a slight bump that made Richard giggle. The merman proceeded to inspect Paul’s scuba suit and when he saw how big of a problem it is for Paul to simply turn around, he grabbed him by his sides and helped him. Paul tried to wildly gesticulate in Till’s direction, trying to warn the merman about the other man but he did not listen. Instead, he grabbed Paul by his hands and slowly swam with him through the crevices and sharp rocks. Paul discovered that the merman took him back to the shipwreck, probably wanted to show it to him properly but as he once again saw the claw marks his heart sped up. Richard had to notice it as he turned around with a questioning look, he clutched Paul’s face gently in his hands and tried to look him through his goggles into his eyes. The smaller man put one of his hands over Richard’s and gently tried to tug him away from the wreck. The merman looked back at the ship and back to Paul, eyes asking him if he really doesn’t want to go in there. Nodding his head towards the rocks, Paul turned and slowly swam away. Richard caught up with him quite quickly, deciding to play with Paul among the corals instead.

It was something completely new for Paul to stay so long down there with Richard. He watched as the merman twisted his tail around, performing tricks and creating bubbles, which he tossed around. Richard then chased some fish and even drew out the octopus that Paul tried to get better look at. Once it latched onto Richard’s arms and discovered he’s harmless, it swam out and stayed close by like a curious cat. Richard then proceeded to get closer to Paul and gabbed one of his arms, gently extending it towards the creature. The octopus got closer and wrapped a few of its tentacles around Paul; that made him jump a bit, it tickled and felt weird. As he was trying to get used to the octopus inspecting his arm, the merman behind him lowered his head and nuzzled his shoulder. Paul was so enticed by the cephalopod that he didn’t even register the small kisses the merman was peppering him on his shoulder. Maybe he would notice it but Richard once again looked up in alert; he could smell the other man nearby and he didn’t want to be found out. He slowly caressed Paul’s arm, tracing his fingers towards his hand while shooing the octopus away. Paul watched in disappointment as the thing swam away back under the rock and then turned his look onto Richard. The merman smiled, squeezed his hand and quickly disappeared back among the rocks. Paul was a bit confused why he left so suddenly, but as he turned he saw the top of Till’s oxygen tank peak out from some corals. Once Till saw him as well, he pointed up and both of them slowly returned back to the surface. Once above the water, Paul waited for Till to get on their boat and then let him help onto it as well.

“Wasn’t so bad, was it?” Till asked hopefully while opening some of Paul’s straps.

“It was amazing, man. But that ship looked a bit ominous though,”

“Yeah, I didn’t need to see your whole face to recognize that you were scared shitless,” Till laughed and waited for Paul’s punch into his shoulder which eventually came.

“Is not my fault that I’m not used to it. Anyway, let’s have lunch, I’m starving.”

After their meal Till decided to show him around more and drove the boat among the island’s shore, pointing out interesting landmarks. Paul tried to pay attention to it but his mind was filled with his promise to Richard. It looked like he was not able to meet him today properly and teach him more or even play to him. He hoped that the merman won’t mind and that maybe they can at least meet up around midnight at the pier. If he’ll have enough energy for that. Even now he felt like he could fall asleep next to the screaming engine.

“… There used to be a church at the top over there, but it sunk down together with the rest of the land… Are you even listening to me?”

“Wha-yeah, of course,” Paul quickly blinked and smiled at Till, “Yeah, sunken church. Go on.”

Till snorted and continued, “Well, a bit further there’s a town. We can stop there and get ice cream or whatever. It’s a bit bigger than the village so they have more things to offer.”

“Why don’t you go shopping here then?”

“Because it takes more time to get there and they wouldn’t give me such a good price for my catch, simple as that.”

The town was quite cosy. Paul could clearly see that it was made for tourists as every other shop were souvenirs or a small restaurant. They ate their ice cream near the sea, sitting on a bench-filled boulevard for the visiting people. Before they left Till also mentioned that in this town lives the other German guy, Flake, who works in the local hospital as he mentioned before.

The trip back took them longer than Paul liked. The only appealing thing was the setting sun, colouring everything in gold. When they finally returned back, Paul had to help Till clean up and store their stuff. After a blissful shower he helped Till to cook their dinner which they just as quickly ate. Paul left a bit of the leftovers hidden in the fridge; maybe he could bring it later to Richard. He then decided to lay in his bed, still there were a couple of hours before the merman would usually appear at the pier, so he could rest a bit. As Paul’s head hit the pillow, his brain switched off and he involuntarily fell asleep.


	9. Salt and Sugar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the comments and kudos! I really appreciate it :)

_Paul was again on the boat, preparing to take out the cages. He already knew how to do this as quickly and efficiently as possible, he was confident in his moves. But the cage suddenly got stuck onto something and no matter how much force he used, the thing wouldn’t come up. Paul huffed, tied the rope on the boat and leaned over the edge to try and see what is going on. The water was weirdly dark, almost black, as if it didn’t let the sun shine through it. He leaned even closer, tugging at the rope and trying to see if anything moved at all. The water started to ripple and before he could put his face away, two hands spurted out and caught him by the hem of his shirt. He wanted to yell but no sound came out. Before he realized what is going on, he was already being dragged to the bottom by no one else but Richard. He tried to push himself away but the merman’s grip was too strong. As he started to trash around, Richard stopped with his way down and looked Paul in the eyes. The smaller man got scared even more; those eyes were that of a predator, ready to make his kill. He looked away to Richard’s hand and instead he could only see claws, sharp fingers tearing his shirt apart. He tried to plead Richard to let him go but his mouth got only filled with the sea water. Richard smiled evilly and continued dragging Paul down, not leaving his eyes from Paul’s. Suddenly he stopped and Paul discovered he was at the ship wreck, being pushed into one of the rusty masts. He could feel his back scratching across it, the metal drawing his blood out. His soundless screams were cut out by Richard’s hand that closed around his throat, sharp claws digging into his skin. The other one held him by his chest, digging into him and drawing out more blood. Paul tried to push the hands away but the more he did so, the less conscious he felt. The last thing he saw before everything went to black were Richard’s sharp teeth ready to clamp down on his throat…_

…

Paul woke up with a chocked gasp and his whole body covered in sweat. He put his right hand over his heart trying to calm it down while taking deep breaths. The dream was still behind his eyelids as if it really happened and the merman actually tried to drown him. Till’s joking about the mermaids, the sunken ship and claw marks all over it must have triggered his brain into this wonderful nightmare, he thought as cold sweat was rolling down his back, making him shudder. It was still dark outside and as he discovered, only a few minutes past four o’clock. He must have fallen a sleep that even his alarm didn’t wake him up for his and Richard’s meet up. Remembering the the merman, Paul felt anxious about meeting him again. The dream gave him doubts about Richard’s intentions and questioned his behaviour. The merman told him many times that he does not want to hurt him, but what if it was all a lie? Maybe his own brain was trying to warn him of the possible danger. It was too much to take in. Paul shook his head and went to the bathroom, he had to wash the sweat off.

He thought that the cold water would help him to kick start his brain properly and clear his thoughts but the only thing it did was to make him even less sleepy. He stared at himself in the mirror and then decided to go downstairs for an early snack and a bottle of water. He took out the chocolate bars he had hidden away from Till and started to devour it. Chocolate indeed helped to soothe one’s nerves. He moved onto the porch outside and tried to let the gentle sound of splashing waves to calm him down. It did not help as usually as it only brought back the memories of him drowning in the black sea by the hands of his friend, making him uneasy again. Paul sighed and shook his head. He moved forward, deciding to walk among the trees in the garden instead. He put the rest of his sweet treat into his pocket and let his fingers caress the trunks and leaves around him. He pondered about the dream, trying to convince himself that there was nothing to be afraid of. Especially when the merman was getting so friendly with him. Why would he be so genuinely interested in playing the guitar and Paul’s life, if he was supposed to be only a meal for him?

Speaking of the merman, when Paul was returning from the gardens, he saw a familiar tail splashing around the pier. Paul’s breath got stuck in his throat; was he ready to meet the merman? Only a few minutes back he woke up drenched in sweat because of him and now it was a bit difficult to pretend that he’s completely okay. But before Paul could disappear inside, the merman propped himself onto the pier and waved, gesturing him to sit down next him. Paul sighed, deeply breathed in and moved slowly towards Richard.

“H-hey, how you doing?” He tried to sound relaxed but his voice staggered nonetheless.

“Why didn’t you come earlier? I’ve been waiting for you,” Richard asked, brow raised.

“I-I fell asleep. Got a bit tired from all the swimming, you know,” Paul rubbed his hands, nervously standing to the side and not sitting down next to the merman as usual. He kept glancing at Richard’s hands, imagining those dreadful claws.

Richard saw the nervousness, how Paul kept fidgeting and not calmly sitting next to him as they’re used to.

“Did something happen, Paul?”

“What? No, nothing happened I’m fine,” Paul tried to smile at Richard, but immediately averted his eyes away.

“Paul, please, tell me. I can see you trembling, hell, I can sense the tension in you. Did something happen?” He took a hold on one of Paul’s hands and tried to tug him down. Paul at first didn’t want to oblige but had no chance against Richard’s strength. The smoothness of Richard’s hand and his gentle, yet firm behaviour calmed the smaller man a bit down, making him nervously sit next to him. He still felt jumpy from sitting next to the merman and Richard realized that, so he slithered down the pier into the water and made himself comfortable in front of Paul, supporting himself by putting his hands on Paul’s knees, “you know you can trust me. I thought I made that clear,” he started to move his thumbs in small circles, trying to make the smaller man relax.

Paul kept looking away, trying to calm his racing heart as he collected his thoughts, “when we were diving in the sea, Till showed me that shipwreck. At first I found it exciting but when I saw the claw marks and the holes in the hull I got sick,” he swallowed, daring a short glance into Richard’s curious eyes, “I don’t have to be a genius to know it was from you guys. And the thought of being attacked like that, being drowned like that, it scared me. When you appeared and dragged me back towards it bad thoughts invaded my mind,” he again looked into the merman’s eyes, checking if he is keeping up. Richard’s eyes turned sad and it certainly looked like he wanted to say something but Paul still continued, “The place just reeked death and I wanted to get away as far as possible. The dream that woke me up was not pleasant either.”

“What dream? Please Paul, tell me,” the merman now grabbed Paul’s hands into his and started stroking those, looking into the other man’s eyes.

“I-, it’ll sound stupid but all these things that happened yesterday led to my stupid brain creating this nightmare. I was again doing the usual stuff on the sea, when you appeared and dragged me down into the depths,” Richard could feel Paul’s grip on his hands tightening. He felt so bad for Paul’s distress, “I wanted to scream, to get free, but you just continued dragging me back down, straight to the wreck. Then, well, then you kind of tried to kill me.”

“Oh Paulie I’m sorry!”  Richard couldn’t stand it anymore and hoisted his body higher, tightly hugging the smaller man, “How many times will I have to tell you that I don’t want to hurt you, I wouldn’t be even able to bear someone else hurting you,” in his flood of emotions he kissed Paul’s temple and continued, “and don’t worry about the ship! While yes, it was us who tore the bottom open, it wasn’t actually us who sank the ship. The crew crashed it onto the rocks and safely got away, only few days later did we do that. We wanted to explore it and as I’ve told you before, we like to steal food from you guys,” he squeezed Paul in his arms before loosening his grip so he could grab the side of Paul’s face and make him look into his eyes.

Paul had to laugh, all his troubles and doubts were being washed away; Richard’s voice had extremely soothing power. Still he felt a bit unsure “Thank you, Reesh. I know I’m being a bit hysterical, but you have to understand that something over a month ago I had no idea you guys existed. This all is bit unexpected,” he looked into the merman’s eyes waiting for the understanding. _He’s so close._ Usually, Paul would freak out if a man got so close to him, but Richard’s calming presence was welcomed. Paul learned to accept Richard’s closeness and with it he started to enjoy it. It still felt weird but good nonetheless, as he observed so closely Richard’s eyes, his fluttering eyelashes, and overall his face.

“I understand. Just don’t be afraid of me, I couldn’t handle that,” the merman whispered, then slowly moved his eyes towards Paul’s lips. He licked his own and looked back at Paul. When Richard saw no resistance in Paul’s half lidded look, he slowly moved forward, stopping millimetres away from him, “Nobody will ever hurt you again, I promise you that,” Richard closed the distance and kissed Paul softly on his lips. At first he didn’t get any response from the other man but as he slowly started to move his lips, Paul did uncertainly the same. Richard moved his hand to the back of Paul’s neck while he put the other one on his collar bones, stroking him lightly.

Paul wasn’t even that surprised when Richard kissed him. Once he got over the initial shock of the taste of Richard’s lips, he moved his hands and laid them gently around the merman’s shoulders. His lips were salty and warm and Paul felt like he couldn’t get enough. Richard then playfully bit his lower lip, making Paul involuntary smile. The man realized that as Richard was playful in water so was he with his kisses; he played with Paul’s lips, biting them and then licking them, silently asking for more. Paul opened his mouth and let the merman explore and in return so did he. Their kisses turned much heavier, Richard’s hand repeatedly tugging at Paul’s hair, making him moan. Eventually they had to part for air and neither of them, especially Richard, could stop grins from appearing on their faces.

“You taste so sweet,” mumbled the merman as he started to nimble at Paul’s ear, playing with his earring, “If I knew that, I’d’ve kissed you much sooner.”

“Must be the chocolate I had. And I would’ve freaked out if you did it sooner. Even now I’m not so sure what I’m doing,” Paul stroked Richard’s hair and turned his head to the side giving him better access.

“Chocolate, huh? You’ll have to give me some of that.”

Richard peppered Paul’s jaw with kisses, then he kissed his laugh lines, stopping yet again with his mouth close to Paul’s own.

“I want to taste it so I can always remember you with it.”

Now it was Paul who initiated the kiss. He enjoyed how Richard tried to get as much of him as possible, turning the kiss deeper much sooner. Tongues turning the kiss sloppy and both of them grunting in approval. Paul moved his legs around Richard’s torso, pushing him closer to himself and the merman gladly obeyed, moving his arms around Paul and pressed him closer as well, caressing and massaging his back. Both of them forgot about the time, Paul could barely remember when he kissed somebody for so long. Only when Paul noticed that the first sunrays were appearing on the horizon he realized he was outside for too long. He had to stop Richard from exploring his body, gently moving his hands away from his hips. Richard had successfully awakened another part of his body and as much as he liked it, he didn’t want to deal with it right now.

“Reesh, Richard, I will have to go now. I still have to function tomorrow. And I promised Till and Ollie to meet for a few beers in the evening, I can’t fall asleep with them. We can properly meet tomorrow, okay? I’ll finally take the guitar with me.”

“Mmm, tomorrow? What will I do for such a long time,” Richard nuzzled himself into the crook of Paul’s neck, “I can at least show you some other places than the rocky islands, they’re not exactly comfortable to be around.”

“Okay, you’ll do that,” Paul laughed, “but we’ll still meet there, right? I don’t know where else I could find you.”

“Okay.”                                                                      

“Good. Now, lemme go or there’ll bigger problems than just my sleepiness.”

Richard slid into the water, watching as Paul slowly stretched and stood. The man then rummaged through his pockets and found the rest of the chocolate he stole from the cottage. He smiled and bent down to give it to Richard.

“Here you go, I think you’ll enjoy it,” he unpacked it from the foil and passed the bar to Richard. He took a bite off and hummed appreciatively. Then he stuffed the rest inside, licked his fingers (which Paul found rather hypnotizing) and with a final wink he sunk under water. Paul watched as the colourful tail disappeared and then slowly returned back inside.

The last 24 hours or so were for him such an emotional roller coaster; he could not believe that he just spent an early morning making out with a guy and actually enjoying it. _With an actual mermaid_. That was another factor that added to his state of mind. He had to take another brisk shower as all the saltiness from Richard soaked through his shirt and onto his body, and the merman’s curious hands ruffled his hair, filling it with the sea water as well. When he exited the bathroom the dawn was in its full glory, Paul checked his watch; it was almost six o’clock. Soon, Till will get up and he only prayed that the bigger man will leave him alone. For once Paul drew his curtains over the windows when he got back into his room and fell into his bed.


	10. Beers and Suspicion

Till didn’t even comment on Paul’s oversleeping that day and rather pushed him towards the gardens to help him gather some of the fruits. He mentioned that when they’re gonna travel to the village to meet Ollie, they’ll go by the boat as Till didn’t want to drive on the narrow, dangerous road while drunk.

“We could just call a taxi, no? Would be much easier,” asked Paul as he put down a basket.

“There are no taxis around here, they are around the airport or maybe in one of the bigger towns but not here. Maybe there’s a bus or something but they’re annoying. Plus, driving in the middle of the night is quite fun. Might let you take the wheel if you won’t be wasted too much,” Till winked and immediately laughed at Paul’s rolling eyes.

“I can hold my liquor quite well, thank you very much. Anyway, will you teach me more about diving? I wanna go tomorrow explore some other places than those around here.”

“Sure, I can. We can go tomorrow together near the sunken church or near the town if you’d like.”

“Uh, I was thinking I could go alone, you know?” Paul felt his anxiety rising, he didn’t exactly know how to tell Till he wants to go on his own.

“Alone? Why would you want to go alone?” Till raised his eyebrows in suspicion and stopped his work.

“Don’t take it personally or anything. I just want to clear my head somewhere else than here, the work here is getting a bit repetitive,” he tried to sound as innocent as he could, while scratching his neck nervously.

“Well, If you think so,” Till shrugged, “but it still is a lot of work. I’ll have to show you the maps with save places so you won’t get stuck anywhere or get carried away by the sea.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Paul muttered under his breath. A certain someone would help him with any kind of underwater danger. Till pointed his look at Paul which made him even more nervous so he quickly added, “I-I mean I don’t want to venture somewhere far so I don’t have to learn about every single place that is here, right?” He nervously laughed.

“…Right.”

…

After collecting their baskets they headed back to the cottage, where they stored the fruits. Till then took out some of the maps and laid them down onto the kitchen table. He pointed out where they were and then he showed Paul all the places where underwater currents were the strongest, where were places with rocks similar to those that caught the shipwreck they saw and where it would be too dangerous for someone inexperienced to dive on his own. He then watched as Paul repeated everything, moving his fingers across the map, tapping places and asking the bigger man about other ones. Till then took out a marker and circled a few places that Paul could visit or even they could visit together some other time. Paul then saw a small unmarked part and had to ask about it.

“Why didn’t you mark this place? It looks just like any other sand beaches.”

“Because you can’t get to it from dry land nor from the sea. It’s surrounded by corals and shit. You would either destroy the corals or the ship and you want neither of those thing to happen,” Paul had to smile at Till’s love for the local life. It’s good that he protected it as well, “plus, the mermaids might live there, looks like a perfect spot for them,” the bigger man added with a wink. Till then proceeded to ask once again about the dangerous places and wanted them pointed out. Paul complied and then he listened to what he should do if he found himself in a bad situation nonetheless.  He watched as Till demonstrated all kinds of moves, listened to his advices and then followed him outside where they took out one of the vests with attached tank and once again went through all the needed information. Till then watched him as he put on the apparatus, tightening the straps and checking the clocks and then made Paul go into the water to see him  how well he can take it off and hoist it back onto the boat. He had to shout a few times to correct the smaller man but after some struggling Paul managed to take everything of and put it back onto the boat.

All these activities took them all afternoon filled with a couple of breaks and before Paul realized what is happening they were on their way to the village to meet with Ollie in one of the local pubs. It was rather nice to go across the sea with the setting sun, everything yet again got drowned in shades of gold. The village welcomed them with chirping of local birds and the unending buzz of crickets. Till parked the boat on one of the local piers, which was like a small maze, all sides surrounded by other boats, yachts and small ships. Ollie was already waiting for them at the entrance to the pier and greeted them both with a soft smile and a nod of his head.

Paul started to like the village during dusk, the serenity and relaxing locals gave the place a surreal feeling, like he was actually living in a romantic picture. Ollie led them through a couple of narrow streets, the houses’ stone walls were all covered in blooming flowers and colourful cloths. In the end they ended up again near water, a nice local restaurant with a terrace made of stone and bushes gave it an intimate aura.

“So how are the suits guys, did you try them yet?” Asked Ollie right after he had ordered a couple of beers.

“Yeah we did, I took Paul yesterday to that big wreck. I think that Paul’s a natural when it comes to this shit.”

“Really? That’s good to hear. If you’ll want to borrow anything else from me, Paul, just ask. I got a few surf boards just sitting around,” Ollie encouragingly smiled towards Paul.

“That sounds tempting, thanks Ollie, I might call you later. Now I just want to get hang of the whole diving thing-”

“Yeah, the bugger already wants to go alone tomorrow, don’t know why but I’m not gonna stop him. I trust him that he’s not that big of an idiot to kill himself,” Till interrupted Paul and playfully nudged his side.

“Oh how nice of you to say that, my old friend,” Paul sarcastically battered his eyelashes and repaid the nudge.

“Why would you like to go alone?” Ollie laughed and then continued in calmer tone, “isn’t it more fun to be there with someone?”

Paul got again a bit flustered, he didn’t have time to prepare a convincing lie why he insists on going alone and taking with him half of the stuff laying around Till’s cottage. With the help of the liquid courage he tried to tell the same thing he told Till, “Oh you know, I wanted to clear my head somewhere else than around here. I need to collect my thoughts and decide what to do with my, uh, relationship.”

It still was clear that neither of his friends believed it completely but left it be as they had other things to discuss. Another round of beers followed and after it another. Soon, the boys were laughing, making jokes about everything, including the local life – they were glad that the people around them couldn’t understand German. Ollie then had to excuse himself and use the bathroom and Paul took advantage of it; he turned towards Till, his slightly drunk body turning a bit too quickly and spilling a bit of his beer.

“Till-shit-Till, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, shoot.”

“Does Ollie know about the mermaids? Cuz Richard told me he knows him as well.”

“Richard told you? You’ve met him again?” Till furrowed his eyebrows in surprise.

That made Paul freeze. _Shit. Didn’t want him to become even more suspicious_. His silence didn’t help him either so he tried to explain it as quickly as possible, “Well, obviously not. He just told me a lot of things when I met him and it’s kinda hard to forget about that kind of an encounter,” Till’s questioning look made him only more nervous.

“To be honest I don’t know, I didn’t ask him about that kind of stuff. If he doesn’t know about him, about the mermaids in general, then he would think I’m an idiot or that I’m snorting something. And if he knew about them then what would I do with that information? It’s not like we can suddenly become friends with them,” he ended his speech with yet another swing of his bottle. Paul didn’t really have time to react as Ollie came back, wiping his wet hands into his shorts.

Then they continued with their chat and both Till and Ollie got interested about stuff that was going back home, Paul had to tell them about every single detail happening in Berlin; which square got renovated, which buildings were torn down and all the other details that they wouldn’t get from the news or the internet. When the conversation got swayed yet in another direction Paul had to excuse himself, the beer, hot evening and loud voices from all around them made his head pound. He wanted to check his phone for any new messages from his kids but he found out that he left it most likely back in the boat. After some persuading, Till let him go find it but he had to return as quickly as possible, he didn’t want to find Paul somewhere moping on the beach alone.

Paul nodded, patted Ollie on his shoulder and got out of the restaurant. He quickly made his way through the streets, surprisingly stumbling only once or twice. He got to the piers, quietly giggling to himself and then trying to calm himself by breathing in the salty air. He waddled across the wooden boards, getting lost among the ships, almost stumbling into a wrong boat before going back and finding their boat hidden among bigger yachts. He got inside, rummaged through his stuff and then victoriously smiled. He lighted up the screen looking at it, while blindly sitting onto one of the benches inside the boat.

“Are you guys having fun?”

Paul jumped, cursed and almost dropped his phone into the water, wildly throwing it from one hand to the other before securing it by catching it and pushing it toward his chest, “Jesus fucking Christ Richard! I’ve told you to warm me! You’re gonna kill me one day like this!”  He almost threw his phone in anger at the merman, putting it back into his pocket at last possible minute.

Richard meanwhile laughed, emitting yet again his throaty laugh, “c’mon I’m just having a bit of fun,” He moved away from one of the wooden poles towards the boat, hoisting himself slightly up, “Anyways, are you guys having fun?”

“Y-yes, we are. We’re sitting in one of the local restaurants, if I knew you’d be lurking around here I would try to take something with me. But aren’t you afraid that people will see you here?! A few meters towards the shore and you’ve got people walking around!”

“Aw, you would bring me something? That’s sweet. And no, I’m not afraid, you guys are pretty blind and if I wanted to, I could disappear in a blink of an eye, y’know” he watched as Paul got up, slowly made his way from the boat and onto the pier, wobbling slightly.

“Are you drunk?” He asked, turning his smile into a grin.

“N-no, am not. Didn’t have enough of beers to be yet. The water is just bit unsteady.”

“Oh, sure, sure,” He made his way towards Paul, patiently waiting for him to sit down. When Paul did nothing he expectantly raised his eyebrows and lightly tapped the space in front of him. Paul rolled his eyes and sat down, automatically spreading his legs a bit, letting Richard put his forearms onto his knees. Richard immediately did so, leaning into Paul’s chest and snuggling his head on it.

“Hey, My clothes are gonna be all wet again! And I can’t now return with my t-shirt wet and pretending that nothing has happened,” he took the merman’s head into his hands and gently pushed it away from him to look into his eyes. Richard took it as a challenge, moving his arms around Paul, anchoring them behind him and hoisting himself even higher so their faces could be in equal height.

“And? What are you gonna do to me if I won’t stop?” As an example he slightly bumped his chest with Paul’s making it wet even more.

“Then, then I’ll be very angry,” Paul slurred, not able to hold his smile back, Richard was acting as a puppy again. He would probably freak out more about their situation but the beer had a nice soothing effect, making him care less about everything.

“You? Angry? Now that’s something I’d like to see,” Richard bit his lip and again lowered his eyes towards Paul’s lips.

“Mmhm. If I get angry I’ll stop meeting with you and unless you’ll crawl out of the sea you won’t see me anymore,” Paul in turn watched Richard’s wandering eyes and just waited for the merman to strike again.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Richard mockingly gasped, “I know your curiosity wouldn’t let you be and you’d return to me.”

“So sure of yourself, huh,” Paul snorted and licked his lips. He was actually becoming impatient.

“Oh, you have no idea,” the merman whispered, finally pushing his lips onto Paul’s and kissing him gently. As soon as he felt Paul responding and smiling into the kiss, Richard angled his head and deepened it. He put one of his hands on Paul’s lower back and moved the smaller man closer to him.

That made Paul growl, “I’ve told you I can’t get wet, you idiot,” he mumbled into Richard’s lips, using his head to slightly move him away. The merman didn’t listen to him, latching hungrily back onto his lips, his free hand moving to the back of Paul’s neck and massaging it. Paul tried to get his mouth away to speak again, but Richard just started to nimble on his jaw, moving his head slowly towards one of his ears and catching his earring between his teeth.

“Richard plea-oh god,” He felt as the merman stuck his tongue out and played with the earing, then sucking on it with his lips and slightly biting his earlobe. Shivers ran down his body as he dragged his fingers across the merman’s back; he knew he was getting lost in the affection and that it wasn’t the best idea, as he was in a public place and anybody could walk in on them, yet he couldn’t stop himself. He used one of his hands to sloppily move Richard’s mouth back to his, immediately biting down which made the merman grunt in approval. Richard started to slowly push Paul’s shirt up, sliding his fingers around his hips and slightly digging them in. And Paul would probably let him, but the buzzing of his phone in his pocket made him suddenly stop. Richard didn’t pay any attention to it and continued to kiss his lips and his jaw.

“Wait, Reesh. It might be important,” he tried to fish the phone out of his pocket to look what’s going on.

“Leave that thing be, I’m sure it’s not important.” Richard growled as he stopped and looked disapprovingly at the black device.

“We’ll see, yeah?” Paul lighted up the screen; one new message from Till. _Oh shit._

Paul quickly opened it and read the text;

_Did you drown or something? Should I come for you? T._

“Shit,” Paul repeated, answering that he’s coming back that he just got distracted, “I’ll have to go again, Reesh. Otherwise Till will kill me or worse, he’ll come here and everything will blow up.”

“Aw, c’mon, you say this all the time! When will there be ever a day when you won’t have to run away?”

“I’ve told you that tomorrow I’ll have the whole day. And Till will even let me take the scuba suit with me, okay? A whole day, without interruption,” Paul raised his eyebrows and looked patiently into Richard’s eyes.

The merman sighed and after few moments smiled back at Paul, “okay. Tomorrow. I’ll be waiting by the rocks,” he nuzzled Paul’s neck once more, then he kissed him for the last time before letting him go and getting back into the water. He watched as Paul stood up and straightened his clothes.

“Tomorrow.” Paul smiled and turned around, walking slowly back to the land and back to Till.

Richard watched him disappear, shamelessly enjoying the view he got of Paul’s body before it disappeared among the many ships. Then he too disappeared in the other direction.

Paul jogged through the streets as best as he could, considering his mind was still a bit wobbly and that he also tried to air his shirt and shorts as best as he could to get rid of the wet patches. He wasn’t completely successful but he couldn’t just stand in front of the restaurant waiting for his clothes to dry. He took a deep breath and walked inside and out to the terrace to join his friends.

“Here you are! What’s happened?” Till shouted, clearly more drunk than when Paul has left them, “and why are your clothes all wet?” suddenly Till’s stare cleared up and looked expectantly at the smaller man. Ollie just curiously waited for his answer while sipping on his beer.

“I, uh, I met a woman, you know, talked to her a bit,” Paul tried to lie. At least there was a new glass of beer in front of him.

“A woman? Shouldn’t have it been her who got wet?” Ollie quietly mumbled, trying to hide his smirk and making Till almost spit out his drink in laughter.

“Oh, very funny,” Paul rolled his eyes as he set down his glass, “She… she had a kid with her, he sprayed me with a water pistol, that’s how I got to talk to her,” he almost felt proud for these lies and how easily came to him.

“Oooh a mommy then,” Till wiggled his eyebrows waiting for Paul’s reaction.

“Shut up. Anyway, I’m back, let’s ignore everything that has happened to me, okay?”

“If you think so,” Till’s eyes still didn’t loose any of their suspicious stare. Paul swallowed nervously and tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling Till was giving him.

They stayed for a couple more hours there, only with the strike of midnight did they leave, saying good bye to Ollie and heading back to the boat. The ride back would have been pleasant but the constant swaying of the boat did nothing good to Paul’s stomach. In the end he was glad they have returned back home without him throwing up. He didn’t even wait for Till as he was tying the boat up and went straight to the cottage, sleep the only thing on his mind. A quick shower, a change of clothes and he was diving straight into his bed, falling asleep immediately.


	11. Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I added some new tags to the story - and for a good reason ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

And as Paul promised, everything they agreed on happened. Richard got his guitar lessons, they spent almost the whole day in the water only with breaks for Paul to rest and to eat and in both situations the merman was by his side. Paul brought some freshly grilled meat, a salad and couple of packets of chips, all of them for the merman to try. It made him happy to see Richard wolf down everything he made or gave to him, showering him in exchange in compliments and asking greedily for more.

Sooner or later Richard would jump onto the smaller man, hugging him tightly and laughing, either playing in the water or rolling in the beach sand. And every time it would end up with him vigorously kissing the daylight out of Paul.

This happened almost everyday; they met, they talked and played and would end up their meet ups with laying somewhere, relaxing and Richard lazily kissing any of Paul’s body part that was closest to him. Paul once even brought a packet of cigarettes, smoking a few and handing one to Richard, watching him with amusement as the merman coughed and couldn’t at first get the hang of it. But as Paul saw how quickly Richard was able to destroy it, he hid the packet away, too afraid of what it could do to the merman’s lungs.

Till’s suspicion only grew, he always asked where did Paul disappear for the whole day and why he insisted on going alone. Paul had to eventually construct this lie about him meeting with the fictional woman, going out with her and what not. He still spent much more time on the sea than necessary while working, late nights secretly on the pier and his free days away from the fishery on some deserted beach.

Paul asked himself many times what was he doing, as he never considered himself anything but straight, yet Richard’s affection felt too good and he couldn’t get enough of it. After so many years there was finally someone who listened to him, who was curious about his life, wasn’t boring, and liked to hang out with him. Richard’s mermaidish charm completely omitted his questioning about his orientation. He just liked spending time with him, to hell with all the prejudices, he was gonna enjoy himself. Richard brought new adventures into his life, he could have never imagined himself swimming in the sea, accompanied by a mythical creature that has took interest in him, doing anything just o make him feel good. And all Richard did was nothing more than cuddling and occasional kissing, the merman was just extremely playful, nothing more was ever going to happen. Or so Paul thought.

It was one of the days where Paul tried to do his work as quickly as possible, he had to clean all kinds of tools and devices, while Till travelled away to the closest town for some supplies by the pickup. That meant Paul hastily went through his chores, almost leaving the work half undone and running back to the cottage, just so he could pick up some food, collect his stuff and head for the boat. On his way out he stopped by one of Till’s shelves, picked up two bottles of his wines and brought them with him. He quickly made his way to the boat, throwing everything in, untying it from the pier and going away.  Soon, he could see a colourful tail swinging from side to side along his boat. The merman was already following him, as a dolphin would do. What got his breath stuck in his throat and drop his jaw was when Richard actually jumped out of the water, flying over him, spraying him with droplets of water and diving back down. He did it two more times before they arrived to their favourite spot; a solitary beach closed of by steep rocky cliffs. There was no other access than from the sea and it was too small for people to make it into an actual place of interest.

Paul threw down the anchor and then gave Richard the basket with food, which the merman carefully transferred to the shallows. Paul put on his fins and goggles, grabbed his towel, phone and swam towards Richard with his hands above the water. Richard giggled at how Paul clumsily tried to get out of the water without dropping any of his stuff while wobbling on his finned feet.

“If you could help me instead of laughing at me that would be great,” Paul tried to splash some of the water onto Richard, but only making himself unsteady even more, almost falling onto his butt.

“I don’t know, you’re rather cute like that. I wouldn’t be much of a help either,” as a proof he crawled up the shore out of the water, not really able to move.

Paul managed to slip out of his fins and walk up the shore, putting his things safely down and returning for the basket only to put it next to the towel and the phone. He then turned and looked at Richard, smiling faintly at how clumsy the merman looked on the beach. _A fish out of water_. Paul’s smile broadened and he watched as Richard tried to scoop closer.

“Having trouble down there?”

“What do you think? Obviously my tail is not for crawling across the beaches as your tiny legs were not made for swimming.”

“Hey! They’re not tiny!” Paul playfully ran around the merman, sometimes bending down and tugging on his tail. Before Richard could react he would run to the other side, jabbing him in his sides and so on. Paul’s laughter stopped when Richard grabbed him by one of his legs and tugged him down, making him flop down onto his belly. Paul barely got the time to turn onto his chest before he got crushed by Richard’s weight laying on him. The merman immediately started to tickle him on his sides, making the smaller man trash from side to side and squeal.

“Yeah, tiny, useless human legs,” Richard repeated, laughing back at Paul. He twisted his tail a bit to the side and eased himself a bit up, so the man could breathe, but did not get off him. He nuzzled his neck instead, tenderly sucking on his skin there, “But I like them nonetheless. And your butt too,” he traced one of his arms along Paul’s outer thigh, ending at his side and then gently squeezing his butt.

Paul’s cheeks got flushed from the tender strokes and he didn’t want to be seen blushing, so he tried to get from under the merman, “Okay, okay. Let’s get back to water before I change my mind, Hmm?” Paul gently kissed the tip of Richard’s nose and patiently waited for the merman to get completely off him. Richard did so, but not before kissing Paul back as if he needed to reply to everything Paul did to him.

Paul put his fins back on, then his goggles and swam deeper into the sea, waiting for the merman to crawl back inside the water and join him. The merman caught up with him pretty quickly, grabbed him by his hand and dragged him further down. Everything went as always, both of them just enjoying each other’s company, swimming up and down and chasing each other. When Paul was once again up at the surface, getting some air, Richard swam to him, proposing an idea.

“When you’re down there and will be in a need of oxygen, just hold onto me okay? It’ll be much more comfortable. And nicer,” he winked before disappearing back down.

Paul blinked a few times, then shrugged and dove back down. He swam to Richard, who’s been trying to coax some fish from their hiding and successfully doing so. It was a school of small, colourful fish that swam closer to Paul and around him. It felt so magical, the fish tickled him on his skin as they passed by, momentarily obscuring his vision. They twirled around him like falling leaves before disappearing somewhere behind him. The only thing before him was now Richard, goofily smiling as he played with the last couple of fish which were swimming between his fingers. Paul watched him for a moment but then had to go up for another breath. So he did as he was told, gently tapping Richard on his arm and pointing to his throat and lungs, signalling he has to go up. The merman grabbed him but instead of taking him up, he mouthed the word _relax_ and then he bent down, pushing his lips onto Paul’s. The smaller man got freaked out a bit, he was expecting the merman to take him up, not to start kissing him! But as he felt Richard pushing actual air into his mouth he latched onto him, taking as much as he could. It felt weird but as long as it helped him he was glad for it. Once he had enough, Paul detached himself from the merman and smiled at him appreciatively. Richard grinned at him and so together they continued to chase the school, with short stops for Paul to get more air from Richard.

Later that day they were both splayed on the beach, their stomachs filled with Paul’s lunch and both enjoying the bottles of wine that Paul brought. Richard unsurprisingly liked the sweet taste and was taking large gulps, occasionally switching to a packet of cookies he stole from Paul.

“If you’re gonna continue stealing all my sweet stuff from me, you’re gonna end up with a fat belly. And you won’t be able to move at all,” Paul turned his head towards Richard, adjusting himself on his towel and taking a swing from his own bottle.

Richard stopped for a moment, considered what Paul just said, shrugged and continued eating, “that can’t happen. I move too much,” he answered with his mouth full, few crumbs falling down.

“Oh yeah you will. Look at you now, you glutton. You’ll wake up tomorrow all nice and round,” Paul moved a bit closer and jabbed one of his fingers into Richard’s chest. It was still very firm.

“Nuh-uh,” he took the last cookie out stuffing it in his mouth, washing it down with the wine and setting it aside.

“Uh-huh. All fat and round,” Paul took another swing of his wine, but in his carelessness forgot he can’t smile into the bottle, therefore spilling some of it on his chin and neck, “shit.”

“Hmm, perhaps I should grab something else. But I think it’s sweet as well, maybe even sweeter,” the merman’s eyes darkened and he moved closer to Paul, hovering above him. He took the bottle from his hands, setting it next to his above them into the sand, while still maintaining eye contact with the smaller man. He slowly lowered down, sticking his tongue out and running it across Paul’s collar bones and up his neck, licking up the spilled wine.

“Oh god,” Paul whispered as he closed his eyes and leaned back, giving more access to Richard and his mouth.

The merman slowly worked his way up, licking every inch of Paul’s skin, sucking on it and biting it, leaving small bruises along the way. When he got to his jaw he dragged his teeth across it, ending up at his ear and slightly biting into it. Hearing Paul’s moans only encouraged the merman to crawl over him, nestling between his legs and continuing his way of kissing Paul. He licked away the last drops from Paul’s chin, humming appreciatively. He looked into the smaller man’s eyes and when he saw no resistance he bowed his head down, kissing him fully on the lips. Richard still braced himself with one hand next to Paul, while the other went onto his back pushing the man closer to him. Paul wrapped his hands around the merman’s neck, one slipping into his hair, the other one spreading across his shoulder blades. He dragged his fingers across Richard’s back, leaving faint red trails and pushing his chest closer to his own. He pushed his tongue inside Richard’s mouth, the merman gladly letting him and then in return playfully exploring Paul’s mouth.

The wine in Paul’s system multiplied his pleasure, moaning into the kisses and slowly beginning to unconsciously rub his crotch against Richard. He moaned as he pushed his half awakened member against the merman’s firm scales. _Oh god how long has it been_. Paul couldn’t hold onto his thought for long, as Richard finally moved his hand away from the sand and towards his leg, stroking it, grabbing it by hooking his fingers under Paul’s knee and putting it over his back. That gave the merman more space to lay down as Paul unconsciously hooked his second leg around him as well. Their kisses turned sloppy as both of them grunted and bit down, clearly both starved from the intimate touches they were now receiving properly. Paul continuously rubbed his crotch against Richard, now his cock fully in attention, painfully restrained by his swimming trunks. He would mindlessly continue but another bulge stopped him. He withdrew from Richard’s kisses and looked down. The merman was repeatedly pushing his hips down as well, but what was new was the swell of the smooth small scales bellow Richard’s hips. _Oh god_. Now was Paul getting a bit overwhelmed, he knew he should have counted with the merman reacting to this as well but he couldn’t just imagine how would that look. Apparently, somehow like this.

Richard used the opportunity and stuck a hand between them grabbing Paul through his trunks with his palm and squeezing him. Curses flew out of Paul’s mouth as he closed his eyes and thrusted into the merman’s hand. Paul gasped, grabbed Richard by his hair and repeatedly pushed his hips into Richard’s moving hand.

“You have no idea how long have I wanted to feel that part of you,” the merman growled into his ear, “I’m quite enjoying it too, y’know,” he bit into his ear, licking the earring and then sucking onto the skin right underneath it.

Paul looked down again and when there was enough space for him to see their hips, he realized that that bulge of scales under Richard’s hips was actually a slit, and a very real, very pink tip of what must have been Richard’s cock was peaking out.

“Oh fuck,” Paul didn’t know what to do, he has never been that far with a man, and this wasn’t even a man, which only made him more uncertain. On the other hand he was painfully hard and he couldn’t just leave it be.

“Oh baby,” Richard moaned, kissing him down his neck and onto his collarbones, peppering every inch of his body in kisses and bites.

“Reesh, w-wait. Please. Just- just a second,” Paul had barely enough strength to pull Richard’s face up and to make him listen, “I’ve never been with a guy, okay? Especially not a merman, I don’t even know how you got it down there.”

Richard stopped nibbling on Paul’s thumb and smiled, “don’t worry, I’ll take care of us. And I won’t do anything that would be uncomfortable. Do you trust me?”

“Y-Yes”

“Then don’t be afraid and just relax.”

Richard bowed down to lightly kiss Paul on his lips and then moved lower back to his collarbones. He started to massage one of Paul’s nipples, putting his mouth on the other and sucking on it. He played with it with his tongue, lightly biting it and blowing cold air on it. As soon as he heard Paul’s moans he switched to the other, playing with it just as well. Then he continued kissing down Paul’s belly, lightly scraping his teeth at some places and on some other sucking the skin in. He kissed his belly button and then trailed his mouth down his happy line, stopping above the line of Paul’s trunks. Richard waited for Paul to look at him and when they finally made eye contact, the merman smirked and put his mouth over Paul’s covered cock, sucking on it gently. The merman smirked even more if it was possible, as Paul’s eyes rolled back into his head and the man moaned loudly, digging his fingers into Richard’s hair. The merman played with him over the fabric for a couple of moments and then tugged on the hem of it, slowly taking it down. Paul raised his hips a little, letting Richard take off the swimming trunks. His cock got free and the merman lowly growled at the sight of it. Richard immediately got back to it, grabbed Paul by the base and licked him across his whole length. He sucked on the tip, running his tongue on the underside, hollowing his cheeks and taking Paul deeper. The man himself was mewling and tugging onto Richard’s locks, moving his hips up, to meet the merman’s mouth, he especially moaned loudly when Richard swallowed around him, taking him as deep as possible. It made him bite down onto his fist to keep himself quiet, God knows who was around that could possibly hear him. The merman then moved towards his balls giving them well deserved attention as well, enjoying the reactions he got from Paul by simply sucking on them.

Paul was enjoying himself quite well, moaning and squirming under Richard, when he felt the merman stop and ease away from him. He looked at him and froze; he was towering above him, perched on his hands by Paul’s sides, his eyes wide and dark and his own cock fully _unsheathed_. It was of pinkish colour, pointy and so different from a human one. Quite bigger as well. Richard’s cock glistened between them, moving slightly up and down from the merman’s laboured breathing. Paul watched as Richard lowered himself so their hips could meet and their cocks aligned with each other. It was hot and slimy and big and all over the place. Both men moaned, jointly moved their hips towards each other, grinding their pelvises together. Paul hooked again one of his legs back onto Richard’s back and felt him take them both in his hand. The merman started to jerk them off together, pumping his hips into Paul’s own. Paul actually felt Richard’s dick moving, it wrapped itself around his own and started to squeeze it as well. The man’s moans were shut off by Richard’s mouth as he started vigorously kissing him, the tempo driving him crazy.

 Paul felt so dirty yet so good. He had Richard’s tongue deep down to his tonsils, his cock wrapped around him and his wandering hands squeezing every possible part of his body. The wine he drunk numbed any of his worries or remorse, leaving him in complete bliss. The hard friction of their hips and Richard’s skilful tongue were quickly bringing Paul towards his peak and he could not hold himself for much longer. He felt Richard’s dick pulsating, rhythmically squeezing him and adding to it, Richard also used his hand to play with Paul’s cockhead. A few more squeezes and Paul was biting on Richard’s lower lip, hard enough to draw blood, and screaming his name as he came. He finished into the merman’s hand making him spread the cum over their dicks, mixing it with Richard’s slick as the merman kept still working himself off. Paul was still riding his high so he barely noticed Richard finishing off; rather than seeing him or properly hearing him, Paul felt as the cock tightened and pulsated, spurting out semen all over Paul and his hand.

The merman collapsed onto Paul, his shallow breaths ending somewhere around Paul’s ear. They both laid still for a few moments catching their own breaths and trying to collect themselves. After few minutes the merman again propped himself onto his hand, the other one he gently pushed into Paul’s ruffled, sand filled hair. He stroked his head and then kissed Paul gently on his lips.

“That was amazing,” Paul mumbled into his lips, smiling faintly.

“It sure was. And so were you.”

“You flatterer,” Paul mockingly punched Richard into his shoulder, immediately after it bringing him down for more kisses.

“I’m just stating the truth. And I’ll be always here for you, if you want to _relax_ more.”

Paul hummed in appreciation, stroking Richard’s hair and jaw, letting the merman lightly kiss his palms. He tried to reposition himself and as he moved he looked back down; his belly was a complete mess, decorated by both his and Richard’s semen, which the latter left generous amounts of it, then his softening cock and then he could see Richard’s own cock already slowly retreating back into its place hidden by the small scales. He felt he was getting tired but he still had to clean himself, so with some persuasion the merman rolled off him and he went back into the sea, deep enough to wash the worst from his body. He returned already yawning back to the merman, looking at him in deep thought.

“What is it?”

“I’m tired. And I don’t know if I should stay here or go back home,” he saw as Richard’s eyes turned a bit sad at the mention of going away, “But I think that I’ll have a nap here with you and get back to the cottage later,” he smiled, cleaned his towel and laid back down.

Richard snuggled up to him, laying his head onto Paul’s shoulder. Paul wrapped one of his hands around Richard, the other one putting under his head and closing his dropping eyes. He never felt more satisfied.


	12. Feeling You

That evening Paul tried to avoid Till as much as possible. When the smaller man emerged from his much needed shower he discovered that he had small bruises all over his neck and torso. Richard marked every possible inch of his body, he could even see faint bite marks on his shoulders and sides. While it made him smile, Paul also became worried, he didn’t want to be found out, so even though it was quite a warm evening, he put on a hoodie and tried to act as inconspicuous as possible. Till made a couple of comments on Paul’s get up but left him be just as he saw how much Paul was tired. They discussed what they’ve been up to during the day, Till was explaining that he actually spend most of the afternoon with Flake and Paul made excuses about swimming laps for too long. Not long after they bid each other good night and disappeared into their rooms. Paul would’ve gone out just to greet Richard at the pier but he could see light coming from Till’s room so he didn’t want to risk it.

…

Next day Paul joined Till early for another breakfast at the porch. He sipped his coffee and thought about what kind of excuse can he come up now, just so he could disappear from the fishery.

“Say Till, is there anything you want me to do today?” Paul asked innocently.

“Hmm, I don’t know. The gardens are a bit of a mess, so maybe we can spend some time there- wait a minute, look at me,” Till stopped his speech as he turned to Paul, immediately noticing the faint love bites.

 _Oh Shit_. Paul thought as he tried to nonchalantly hide his neck away from Till, “Why? Something’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Till’s curious look changed into an evil smirk, “I’m just realizing that that lady’s got to be really into you, you’re all covered up!” Till started to laugh out loud, “So is this why you were so tired and had to wear a hoodie yesterday, huh?”

“Well… y-yeah. I didn’t want to talk about it. I met up with her yesterday afternoon and things got a little heated up,” Paul swallowed nervously. He didn’t want to get deeper the rabbit hole but it looked like he didn’t have any other choice.

“See I told you the locals are great! You’ll have to show her to me, do you have a picture or something?”

“No! Why would I have, we just keep occasionally meeting. Is all.”

“Occasionally enough for you to fuck her.”

“Jesus Till, I did not sleep with her, I wouldn’t do that.”

“Pfft. Shame.”

“Yeah, right. Anyway, is there anything I could do out in the sea? I don’t wanna be stuck in the gardens,” Paul tried to change the topic, he didn’t want to be subjected to Till’s lewd questions and also wanted to know if it would be possible to get away.

“Not really. Today it looks like a lot of garden work,” Paul couldn’t lie that he was disappointed. Even though he was a bit overwhelmed from yesterday’s meet up, He still felt curious and wanted to be more with the merman and his skilled hands.

So he spent the day with Till, working absent-minded. The bigger man of course kept making comments about it, making fun of Paul and his relationship. _Oh only if you knew_. Paul smiled to himself as he continued mowing the grass. He kept working, counting the hours and thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Eventually he was able to keep a conversation going between him and Till without zoning out and making a fool out of himself. They really spend most of the day outside, only making short stops for lunch and a few minutes off when they both laid next to the pier, relaxing after lunch.

Paul was enjoying the sun and the quiet, only occasionally interrupted by Till’s light snores. He sat up and with a sigh looked around. He could never get tired of the surroundings. He was watching a couple of seagulls chase each other around the pier, when suddenly he saw further behind them a familiar head peaking out of the waves. Paul’s faint smile disappeared as he quickly looked back at Till making sure that he is still asleep. Then he looked back and saw Richard actually making his way closer to them. Paul wildly gesticulated that it’s not safe for him to come closer but the merman did not listen. So the smaller man got slowly up, once more made sure that Till is asleep by quietly calling his name. With no response from the man he nodded to himself, turned around and quickly made his way over the pier, to Richard and as far as possible from Till.

“Well hello there beautiful,” Richard said as he shamelessly trailed his eyes over Paul’s body.

“What are you doing here?! It’s too risky for you to be here!” The smaller man hissed, pointing towards Till.

“Relax, I’ll be careful. I just missed you, y’know. So I just wanted to see you.”

“You could’ve waited for the evening, It’s been barely 24 hours since we last saw each other,” even though Paul tried to tell Richard more things he could clearly see that the merman was not listening to him. Instead he was looking at his neck and his chest, his smirk growing as he noticed more and more marks.

“Did I really leave that many on you? Just look what you’ve made me do,” he purred as he run his hand across Paul’s chest, fingertips caressing the soft skin.

“God, Richard, could you focus for at least a little bit?” Paul rolled his eyes as he bent more over the pier.

“Paul, don’t worry, I’ll hide if he wakes up,” the merman nodded towards Till and then moved his hand towards the back of Paul’s neck, automatically pulling him closer to himself.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Your idiot,” the merman smirked before pushing his lips on Paul’s, inhaling sharply at the touch of the smaller man’s warm lips. Paul wanted to back away but the firm hand on his neck and Richard’s persuading lips easily decided for him to give in and give back as much as he could. He still from time to time looked over to Till, but the bigger man hasn’t moved at all, he was still snoring with a hat over his eyes. Richard bit his lower lip, making Paul lowly growl and grab firmly the merman’s hair.

As soon as Richard felt the fingers in his hair he deepened the kiss, letting Paul’s tongue invade his mouth. He rose a bit from the water, pushed himself onto Paul, forcing him to lean back. The smaller man fell on his butt and momentarily stopped kissing the merman, afraid that the creaking of the wooden bars would wake up Till. Nothing. The merman let himself settle between Paul’s legs, hugging him with one hand around his lower back an scooping him closer to himself while he supported himself on the other. He felt as Paul put his arms around his shoulders, one of his hands again disappearing into his hair, while the other drew patterns on his back. He hummed appreciatively into the kiss, angling his head so he could deepen it even more. Tongues were meeting, caressing, pushing each other around and invading the other man’s mouth as both men got deeper into their wants.

Paul then left Richard’s mouth and nibbled around it, moving to the merman’s jaw and peppering it with kisses and slightly biting into it. He then moved towards the neck, dragging his teeth across Richard’s Adam’s apple and licking every possible part of it. He bit down on the necklace, taking it into his teeth and tugging on it, making Richard gasp.

“Where did you even get this thing? Did you make it?” Paul whispered as he moved his hand away from Richard’s hair to stroke the leathery decoration around the merman’s neck.

“I actually stole it from a ship a few years back,” Richard spoke as he nuzzled the smaller man’s neck, “I liked it and it looked different from all the things we make. Also kept it as a trophy,” he raised his head beaming proudly at Paul.

“It suits you,” Paul smirked, looked into Richard’s eyes as he once again tugged on it and made Richard move closer to his face. The merman gladly obeyed and moved towards his lips, smiling. They were about to kiss again when a noise came from Till’s direction. They both looked there in shock to discover that Till has probably woken up and was about to take the hat of his face. They looked at each other, horror clearly written on Paul’s face. Richard quickly kissed Paul at the corner of his lips then disappeared soundlessly under the water and quickly swam away.

Paul managed only to quickly get up and straighten his shorts, before Till looked around, noticing that Paul was not next to him, “What are you doing there?” The man asked, putting a hand in front of his mouth to hide a yawn.

Paul still shocked, put his trembling hands into his pockets and looked around, trying to cool his red face, “uh, you know, wanted to take a piss.”

“From the pier? Are you too lazy to just run to the cottage?”

“Uh.”

“Jesus Christ, get inside and then meet me back in the gardens.”

“Okay.”

Paul did as he was told, running back to the cottage only to wash his burning face there and a few minutes later returned back to Till. They spent the rest of the afternoon outside, working in the gardens and then cleaning around the whole lot. Till made the smaller man carry around all kinds of heavy things, from rusty cages to tires and car parts so when the evening finally dawned on to them, Paul was sitting at the dining table moaning about his sore back.

Till was trying to put together something that would resemble a dinner. He put the couple of sandwiches on the table and then passed Paul a beer, settling across from him. As they ate Till thanked Paul for his help and then he immediately made fun of his sore back. They kept bickering while they stuffed their faces and drank their beer, Paul also thought how close and dangerous today’s encounter with Richard has been and how he should set some kind of rules with the merman. He knew he wanted to meet with him as much as possible, but being so close to Till was just too much. He decided that the next time he meets the merman he’s gonna be very clear about their meetings. Paul nodded to himself and continued eating his sandwich.

They then watched a little bit of TV, a record of an old football match, but not even an hour into it and Till already saw Paul’s head falling repeatedly. So he made Paul go to his room to sleep everything off. Paul listened to him, took a short shower and then went straight to the bed. The last thing he did was to make sure his watch would wake him up at the correct hour.

…

The obnoxious beeping made Paul almost throw his watch against the nearest wall. He wanted to bury himself deep into his blanket and continue sleeping but in the end he switched it off and slowly sat up. It was completely dark, except for the stars and the moon, sprayed across the night sky. Paul stretched and yawned, then he took his hoodie and a pair of shorts and put them quickly on. He quietly descended the stairs and moved to the kitchen, automatically grabbing a left over sandwich and a two beers with him. He moved onto the porch, quietly shutting the door behind him and rolling his back. It was indeed sore, it almost felt like he pulled a muscle somewhere around his shoulders. Paul sighed, opened his eyes and looked towards the sea. So far he couldn’t see anything but he was sure that in couple of minutes he no longer would be alone. He slowly walked down to the beach, inhaling the salty air and then he moved onto the pier, lightly stepping on the wooden planks. He walked towards the end, put the plate and a beer down, opening the second one for himself. He sat down, put his feet into the water and waited, watching the night sky.

Just as Paul found the few constellations he knew how they looked, the water rippled close to him and soon after Richard emerged. He didn’t have to look down to see the merman approaching. He kept looking up, admiring the stars when he felt Richard nuzzling one of his legs. The merman kissed him on his knee and then moved to the side and raised himself onto the pier, making himself comfortable next to Paul.

“Is that for me?”

“Hm?”

“The food. Can I take it?”

“Yeah. Go on.”

Richard looked bit offended that Paul wasn’t paying an attention to him but nonetheless took the sandwich and started devouring it. Paul still kept looking up but rather than watching the skies he now wanted to try and test Richard and how long will it take for the merman to start whining about attention. From the corner of his eye he could see the merman finishing the sandwich and taking a few gulps from his beer before setting it down behind himself. Now he braced himself and waited.

Richard at first watched Paul, looking at every detail of his face, from his laugh lines, to his kind eyes, his slightly crunched up nose, to his jawline and neck and the rest of his body. When the merman saw that Paul has not made a move yet, not even saying a proper sentence he got a bit frustrated. He scooped a bit closer to the smaller man, put one of his hands around his waist and laid his head onto Paul’s shoulder. He stayed like that a bit, but when he felt that Paul wasn’t moving at all he sighed and turned his face towards Paul’s neck.

“Paulie, what’s going on?” he whined as he started to nibble at his neck.

“Nothing, am just looking around,” Paul could barely hold his smile back.

“Then stop that. You can do that anytime you want.”

“You’re right. And I want to do it right now,” Paul snickered, he was amused by the needy merman.

“Oh c’mon!” Richard kept whining, filling his complaints with kisses that he planted anywhere he could. Only when he got to the place under Paul’s ear and started to play with his earring did Paul break his character and sighed appreciatively.

“Okay, okay, you have my attention. What do you want?”

“Nothing,” the merman smiled and looked into Paul’s eyes, “but thank you for the food.”

Paul smiled fondly back and pushed Richard lightly back, “Listen we have make some rules about our meetings. The last meeting almost ended up in a disaster.”

“But it did not. I’ve told you many times I can disappear in a blink of an eye.”

“But one day even that won’t be enough. Let’s not do anything too complicated when we’re in public places, okay?” Paul moved Richard’s head till the merman looked him properly in his eyes.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll try to hold myself back,” he smirked and tilted his head, closing the space between them.

“You better.”

Richard kissed the man again, now being impatient more than before. He pushed himself closer and started using his weight to pull Paul down. The merman moved from the pier to settle himself between Paul’s legs, laying his upper body on the smaller man. He pushed his chest into Paul’s but stopped when he heard Paul wince.

“Hey, you okay?” He whispered as he moved his head away to look into Paul’s eyes.

“My back hurts. Feels like I’ve pulled a muscle,” Paul grimaced as he tried to move into a more comfortable position.

“Can I help you with it?” The merman immediately put his hands behind Paul, trying to find the sore spot.

“It should go away eventually, just don’t expect me to be active today,” Paul looked into his eyes and tried to supress his smile as he saw the disappointment reflect in Richard’s eyes. He knew that Richard wanted to be with him again, he could see it in his body language; he was extremely touchy, his hands were nonstop trying to pull him closer and his tail kept curling and uncurling over and over again. He could see the thought’s running behind Richard’s eyes and just waited with what the merman will come up with.

“Then at least scoot closer to the edge, will you? I still want to make you feel good,” Richard suddenly purred into his ear, slithering backwards into the water till only his head and shoulders were peeking out. He put his hand on Paul’s knees and started to stroke his calves running his hands back up and over his thighs.

Paul raised his eyebrows and moved his butt more towards the edge, waiting for Richard’s plan of action. He silently gasped when Richard moved closer and between his legs, kissing his right knee and then slowly making his way towards his crotch.

“What are you-“

“Shh, I wanna play with you,” the merman smirked up to him, meeting Paul’s eyes as he kissed the inner thigh and then moved right onto Paul’s crotch, kissing him over his shorts. Paul closed his eyes and sighed deeply, now he knew what the merman had in mind. He opened his legs a bit more, giving more space to the merman to do his work. Richard started to nuzzle him, kissing the outline of Paul’s awakening dick and moving his hands to the hem of his shorts only to open them up and start tugging on them.

 Paul bit his lower lip as he was looking down; the merman was stroking every possible part of his body, while hungrily kissing and sucking on him even over all the layers. When he saw the merman open his shorts he didn’t hesitate and lifted his butt, letting the merman take it off together with his boxers. He had enough sense to grab the pieces to only throw them behind himself onto the pier and immediately scoot closer. Grabbing Richard’s hair he moved his head back to his crotch, letting the merman take over.

Richard had to chuckle at the eagerness, he rather liked the treatment and attention. And the half hard cock swaying in front of him was a proof that the smaller man enjoyed it as well. He kissed the tip, closed his eyes, and moved one hand to the base, pointing it towards him. Richard sucked the head in, using his tongue to play with Paul’s foreskin while pointing his eyes onto the smaller man’s face. He smiled around the cock as he saw Paul bent his head back and then groan in appreciation. He moved his hand up and down, pumping and then following his hand with his head and with each bob swallowing Paul deeper. Richard then moved back and dragged his tongue over the underside of Paul’s cock only to lap over the head again and suck it back in. He felt Paul’s fingers digging into his scalp and grabbing chunks of his hair, repeatedly tugging on them and forcing him closer to the man’s lap. He took the now hard dick out of his mouth, saliva hanging between the tip and his mouth and waited for Paul’s eyes to meet with his. When they did, he worked his hand over the shaft and kissed his way down, stopping at Paul’s balls and sucking on them just as thoroughly. Every time Richard hummed or groaned in appreciation, he could see Paul’s eyes rolling behind his now closed lids just as he could feel the tightening of Paul’s hand in his hair. He moved his other hand over Paul’s belly and run it under his hoodie, scratching and gripping any part of his skin. He found one of his nipples and started to squeeze it and massage it just to make Paul feel even better. When he heard him moan in desperation and feel him thrust his cock into his hand he returned to it, quickly swallowing it whole, till his nose was pressed against Paul’s pubic hair. He moved his head up and down not once stopping and only swallowing when he felt Paul tug on his hair.

“Fuck, you’re so fucking good,” Paul moaned as he unconsciously started to fuck Richard’s face. He would continue to do that, completely lost in his euphoria, but the fact that Richard never backed off made him a bit uneasy. He was surprised that he could still somehow think and speak, “Reesh, _shit_ , how the fuck can you stand it this long,” he moaned mostly to himself.

The merman hummed, making his throat vibrate and therefore sending Paul into another fit of moans before easing of his cock, licking his wet lips and swallowing, “I don’t need to use my nose to breathe now, remember?” He let go of Paul’s nipple and pointed to his chest, which was underwater with his gills open.

“Oh you fucker,” Paul moaned at the realization and frowned at Richard’s laugh and wiggling eyebrows. He felt the merman take him back into his mouth and work him and suck him hard. Paul felt he won’t last much longer, he already was closing to his release and as he watched Richard bob his head without stopping for a breath, he knew he only had a couple of seconds. What finished him off was when he looked down and saw Richard playing with his own cock, fucking his fist and trashing his tail back and forth, moving his whole body into it. Paul’s other hand, by which he was supporting himself, flew to his mouth and he bit into his fist, muffling his scream as he came down Richard’s throat.

The merman took everything in and even when Paul was completely spent and panting, he still licked him clean off, sucking saliva and cum of his cock. Soon, he finished himself as well, spilling himself into the water. He moaned, bit into Paul’s thigh and stayed like that till his breathing evened out.

Richard sighed and with a bright smile looked back at Paul, “Good?” he sighed as he moved a bit higher to gently kiss Paul’s lips.

“Too good. Amazing,” Paul whispered into his kisses, tenderly stroking his hair. Paul let himself be kissed, even though he could clearly taste himself on Richard’s lips and tongue, but he did not mind it as much as he thought he would. Instead, he let the merman nuzzle him and stroke him and touch him as much as he wanted.

Richard could feel shivers running up Paul’s body and he knew the man was getting cold so he backed away, pressing his brow to Paul’s and stroking his jaw with one hand, “I hope you’ll have sweet dreams after this,” he kissed him on the corner of his mouth, “now go back, before you freeze here or catch something,” he smiled at Paul and nudged him with one of his hands. Paul sighed and nodded, slowly getting up and grabbing his discarded clothes, quickly putting them back on. Once fully clothed again, Paul smiled back down on Richard and kneeled, kissing the merman final goodbye. He took the empty plate and his bottle and when he was reaching for the other one, Richard snatched it from him, taking it with him. Paul laughed and watched the merman slowly back away from the pier with the bottle before finally disappearing under water. He happily sighed, readjusted his shorts and hoodie and made his way back into the cottage.

He quietly moved over the porch, shut the door and moved to the kitchen, getting rid of the plate. Just as he was ready to throw away the bottle to the rest of the glass trash he head a cough. Paul froze and did not dare to turn around.

“A local woman, huh?” He heard a voice that belonged to no one else but Till, “What the fuck, Paul. What have you gotten yourself into?”

_Shit._


	13. Trust?

“… What have you gotten yourself into?”

_Shit._

Paul stood frozen in front of the bin and prayed that Till wasn’t really behind him and that it was just his paranoia kicking in. But the creaking of the floor and Till’s loud breathing confirmed that the man stood a few metres away from him. _Fuck_. He slowly turned around, not blinking and nervously playing with the empty bottle.

“Uh.”

“Have you been lying to me this whole time? Jesus Paul, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Paul just quietly stood there, nervously gripping the neck of the bottle and twisting it in his hands. He had no words, he thought he was careful enough with the merman; Till usually slept like a log and there was almost nothing that could wake him up, “I-I can explain. I think. Maybe,” he kept stuttering and nervously moving his sight from one side to another.

“Oh you will! And don’t you dare to lie to me,” Till crossed his arms, clearly irritated, and waited for Paul to start answering. The smaller man just kept avoiding his look and did not say a word, “Well? How long?”

“Not long really-“

“Paul.”

“A-a couple of weeks.”

“A couple of weeks?! I’m quite surprised that you’re still alive! Of all the interesting people on this island you had to choose to follow a goddamn fish. You should not trust that guy, they might not look dangerous but that doesn’t mean he won’t attack you sooner or later!”

“H-hey!” Paul felt angered by Till’s distrust of the merman, “He told me many times that wouldn’t dare to hurt me, that he’s just curious and wants to get to know me! If he wanted me dead he would do so a million times already!”

“Do you really think that he’s not just using you? You know, playing a little bit with food before he decides to strike? I expected that you’d run back home if you met the guy a second time. Looks like it was more than twice that you spent your time with him, huh?”

All the questions were starting to get under Paul’s skin. From complete shock and fear he became irritated and then slowly angry. Till’s constant jabbing towards the merman were weakening his patience, “Fucking hell Till! Yeah I’ve been meeting him almost everyday. Yes, I thought about him only using me but he really is just curious! He was interested in my life and my hobbies more than anyone that I know! And honestly I don’t give damn what you think about me now, I’m a goddamn adult and I know what I’m doing,” Paul slammed the bottle on the counter and moved closer to Till to challenge him, “He genuinely likes my company, I can easily see how he likes any kind of attention; do you think he would try to kill anyone who’s giving him what he likes the most?”

“Likes you enough to suck your dick, huh,” Till muttered and glared back at Paul, “have you completely lost your mind?!”

“Since when did you start caring who’s between my legs? That’s my business only. And if you don’t like it you can honestly fuck off.”

Till stared at Paul and then deeply sighed, looking down, “Jesus Paul, I don’t really care who you decide to sleep with, be it men or women. I’m just fucking afraid because I find my best friend with a creature we don’t really know. The fact that you were balls deep in his throat does not help the situation,” he sourly smirked at Paul.

Paul’s furious face turned red and he awkwardly coughed, “why the fuck were you spying on me in the first place?”

“I wasn’t. I just woke up ‘cause I heard voices and before I could fall asleep my body decided I was thirsty. So when I got up and looked out of the window I saw my old friend splayed on the pier with a merman in his lap. I did not need to look at you for more than a few seconds to realize what you two were doing.”

Paul clenched his jaw and looked away. He looked out of the windows onto the shimmering sea. He so desperately wanted to disappear and hide somewhere and not to deal with this in the middle of the night, especially when he felt so sore and tired from all of the previous activities. He heard Till sigh and talk more but he ignored him and moved towards one of the windows and leaned on it. He had to make somehow Till shut up and leave him be but he was also afraid that if he told him everything Till would either lock him up or even send him back home. _Man fuck this. He isn’t my father_. Paul thought as he made up his mind. He sighed, nodded to himself and turned around to the still blabbering Till.

“Listen, Till. Don’t think I’m not careful, okay? I’ve met with Richard almost everyday and almost every night. Most of the time we talked about anything that came to our minds and listened to the other one. Richard likes to play in the water, he showed me many unexplored parts around here, he showed me animals that would not dare to go near us or would immediately attack, he told me about their ways of life, how they live and how they watch us. He likes to even be with me on the dry land as much as awkward he is out of the water,” he saw Till’s surprised look and his opening mouth, so he immediately raised his finger and continued talking, “Yeah, He trust me enough to crawl out of the goddamn water onto beaches and spends his time there with me. He likes any kind of food I bring him and any kind of drink as well. And I haven’t done with him anything too… complicated, okay? It’s still weird for me as well, but I just kind of accepted it and later found out that I actually like it. He’s the help I needed to get when I arrived here. So please, don’t you dare to interfere it. And I am repeating this, just to be clear; I am careful and I wouldn’t do anything too dangerous,” with the last sentence Paul firmly gripped Till’s bicep and waited for the taller man’s answer.

Till sighed and gripped Paul’s arm as well, faintly smiling at him. Still, his eyes were sceptical, “I just hope you know what you’re doing. If I could I would try to stop you, lock you up even, but I know I can’t do that,” he looked up and then snorted, “So all this goddamn time you were with him? That woman was just an excuse, huh? I should have known, with you disappearing somewhere onto the sea every possible moment.”

“I-well, yeah. No woman. The first time I lied about her was back in the village and it was actually Reesh who sprayed me with the water. He didn’t like that I was always running away from him,” Paul awkwardly smiled and rubbed his arm, “Maybe I can ask him to come here one day, so you can make sure he’s really harmless. Every time I was nervous or uncertain about something he always explained everything and acted cautiously around me.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. I guess he won’t appear when I’m near but if you ask him he might stay.”

“Actually he was near you yesterday, you were just asleep at the pier,” Paul smiled back up waiting for Till’s reaction.

“You little shits,” Till actually laughed a little, rolling his eyes, “alright. I want to meet him as soon as possible. When I’ll see he’s harmless I let you be. If not, he better swim away as far as possible.”

“Thanks, Till. I’m surprised you took it so well.”

“I’m surprised as well. Now let’s get back to bed, we have to make a short run back into the town for a couple of things,” Till patted Paul on his back and pushed him lightly away from the kitchen towards the staircase. He still didn’t trust Paul nor Richard enough to let them be but he hoped that meeting the merman would perhaps help to sort things out.

…

They managed to get into the town only around noon as both of them slept over their alarms and ignored both the morning sunrays and heat. They stopped at a few shops, Till buying his needed tools, then he they went and bought some food as well, with Paul’s constant thefts of anything edible their fridge emptied much quicker than it usually did. Now not so afraid of being suspicious he put all kinds of sweets and treats into the cart, sheepishly smiling at Till anytime they looked at each other. Till let him put into the cart anything under the condition it will be Paul who’ll pay for the groceries. In the end both of them were carrying two bags each, filled with all kinds of goods, from bars of chocolate to expensive cheeses.

“If you’re gonna continue spending your money on the merman like that you’re soon end up broke,” Till commented as he checked one of his bags and its contents.

“I’m not gonna do this all the time. It’s just really funny to see him react to ordinary stuff. You have no idea how quickly can the man eat a whole pack of chips or cookies and then ask for more. Maybe if you’re gonna meet him you should bring him something good as well, he’ll certainly like that,” Paul smiled at the memories of Richard greedily stealing food from him and then praising him still with his mouth full.

Till snorted, “This is so fucking unbelievable. You come here to help me work and end up with a goddamn enamoured fishman following you around.”

“He’s not enamoured, just curious and playful.” Paul blushed and muttered under his breath, “not a fishman either. A merman. The last time I joked about him being a fish he threw me from a rock straight into the water.”

“He did what?!”

“Well, he didn’t throw me, more like hurled himself onto me and we rolled down from the rock. In the end it’s the same thing.”

“You’re idiots.”

“Hey, we’re cautious. Every time I’m underwater he keeps an eye on me and when I’m in a need of air he helps me up. That tail of his is really powerful, you know,” Paul dared to throw a cheeky smile at Till and Till surprisingly smiled back. While they were both grinning at each other they haven’t noticed a man walking towards them. The man walked straight into Paul and collided with him, making Paul drop the groceries and stagger back.

 “Ah, shit. Sorry,” the man apologized, speaking in a clear American accent. He immediately started collecting the fallen stuff and putting the bags together.¨

“It’s alright. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Paul smiled and took the bags from the man back and looked at him. The man was just as tall as Till if not taller, he was much tanner, had both arms tattooed and wore dark glasses. The man nodded, patted Paul on his back and continued on his way.

“You okay?” Till asked as he inspected the smaller man.

“Yeah, Why I shouldn’t be?”

“Dunno, the guy just seemed a bit weird,” Till looked behind them, watching the other guy distance himself from them. Paul followed his gaze and watched as the man greeted another one by whom they also walked by.

 “See? He had a meet up with his friend just as we do, nothing unusual?” Paul smiled and hinted with his head that they should get back to their car. Till grunted and followed him, looking over his shoulder one last time.

Before they left they visited Flake. Till wanted to pick up some stuff from him and as a gift he left a bottle of wine and some fruits for the doctor. He also introduced Paul who was at first really surprised by the lanky, sarcastic man but soon discovered why Till liked him so much. As quiet and reserved as he was, he still had a lot to say and complain about making Paul laugh on more than one occasion.

On their way back Till already started to get ideas how will Paul convince the merman to stay long enough with him so Till could talk to him. When Paul told him that it’s enough for him to either stay at the pier alone long enough or that he could take the boat for a ride and the merman would certainly appear, curious about Paul’s activities. Till agreed that he’ll let Paul use the boat to get away but he has to return back as soon as the merman appears and agrees to the meet up.

Soon, they returned to the fishery and began putting away the groceries, Paul already set aside a couple of things with which he would easily lure the merman to himself. When everything was ready, Till made sure one more time that Paul would return as soon as possible and then let him go, watching him walk down to the pier to put things into the boat and slowly drive away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My exam period has just begun so there might be some delays in the next few weeks... but I'll try to keep up nonetheless :) thank you so much for reading!


	14. Meetings

It didn’t take long for Richard to appear.  Not even thirty minutes after Paul left Till and made his way towards the rocky islands, the merman started to appear by the sides of his boat. Paul swiftly stopped the boat, killed the engine and waited for the merman to swim to him. The merman did so, smiling fondly and then smoothly hoisting himself up on one side, tilting the boat towards him.

“Hello there, beautiful. What do you want to do today?” He said as he laid his head on his crossed arms.

“Hi,” Paul smiled and carefully moved closer to Richard, trying not to tilt the boat even more, “I’ve actually got proposition. Will you listen to me?

“A proposition?” The merman repeated, raising his head from his crossed arms and toward Paul, “what kind of proposition?”

“Well, yesterday we kind of got caught,” Paul rubbed his arms and looked away in embarrassment, “When I returned back to the cottage I run into a very angry Till. I had to tell him more or less everything,” he could see the nervousness slowly appearing on Richard’s face, so he quickly knelt down and took the merman’s hands into his, “but I kind of managed to persuade him to let us be and not to send me back home or anything like that. You just have to come with me to the fishery so Till can talk to you. Then he’ll see he’s just overanalysing everything. Please.”

Richard’s frown didn’t disappear, he slightly moved away from the boat, leaving just his hands perched on its side, “Why should he get to say anything about us? About me? You’re an adult and so am I and he’s not your father or even your brother. I don’t like it. And I don’t wanna meet him. I may know he won’t hurt me but that doesn’t mean I want to go near him.”

“Reesh? Please, for my sake, come with me. He’s one of my oldest friends and I would trust him with my life,” Paul took one of Richard’s hands into his own and began to massage it between his own, “after that we can go somewhere and relax, hmm? I can bring some of the food you like, look, I even brought you some now,” he let go of the merman’s hands just to pick up a packet of sweets and then dangled it in front of Richard. He watched with slight amusement how the merman’s frown turned into a puppy look.

“Y’know that’s unfair. You’re always gonna lure me in with these things,” Richard said as he quickly snatched the packet from Paul and grabbed a handful of sweets. After he somehow chewed almost half of them he returned the packet to Paul and swallowed, “okay, okay. I’ll go with you. But I’m not vouching for my behaviour. If he tries anything, he’s good as dead.”

Paul raised his eyebrows at Richard’s last sentence and shook his head; he hoped that neither of those men will try to prove themselves as the wiser one. He still knew it’ll be interesting as both Till and Richard were quite stubborn and dealing with them was sometimes like herding cats; just impossible. He started the engine again and slowly turned the boat around the merman, nodding once more towards him and then returning slowly to the fishery. He checked as much as he could his surroundings and wanted to know if the merman is really following him. He was, although from his stiff movements Paul could easily decipher how much the merman disliked the situation. He made sure that he didn’t run him over as he got closer to the fishery where he finally pulled the boat over to the pier and tied it down. When he was exiting it, he saw Till already on his way over to him, caution in his steps.

Paul wanted to move closer to Till but just as he walked past the boat Richard Jumped out of the water right in front of him and barricaded his way towards the land. Paul stopped and raised his hands in defence and looked at Till to see his reaction; the man stopped walking as well, frown on his face and one hand pulled almost behind his back. _Uh-oh_. Paul knew that if he would let the men be they would sooner or later jump at each other, so he decided on one thing that would perhaps calm the situation down. It was also the only possible thing that he could do at the moment. Paul leaned down, laying his hands gently on Richard’s shoulders and started to massage them. When he felt the merman relax a bit under his hands he knelt down next to him and kissed him innocently on his cheek, still massaging one of his shoulders. He looked back at Till and saw that the bigger man had again both hands by his sides and was clearly waiting for Paul’s approval to move again. Paul nodded and watched Till move closer, with each step he whispered reassuring word into Richard’s ear and repeatedly asked him to be kind and patient.

Till stopped a few metres in front of them and took a deep breath, “Nice to see you again, Richard. Though I thought this would never happen again.”

Richard’s only answer was his silent stare. He puffed out his chest and watched Till’s every movement, eyes completely glued to the man’s figure.

Richard just leaned into Paul’s half hug and continued to stare at the other man.

“I want to know why are following Paul around. The quicker you answer me, the sooner I’ll let you be,” Till crossed his arms and challenged Richard’s stare with his own. He waited for a few moments and then raised his eyebrows, “well?”

“Why should I answer to you?”

“Because Paul is one of my oldest friends. I don’t want to lose him just because some fish infatuated his brain.”

Richard’s own frown deepened as he shook his tail in irritation, “I would not dare to hurt Paul, he’s the most interesting thing in my life right now. Why would I even want to hurt him?” He got closer to Paul and nuzzled his neck while still looking at Till, “Right, baby? I’ve told you million times I wouldn’t dare to hurt you.”

Till rolled his eyes at the merman’s affection, he was clearly doing it just to make Till even more irritated. He could also clearly see the discomfort in Paul’s eyes which were continuously switching between him and the merman.

“But how can I know you’re not lying? I can still clearly remember how you ripped a guy’s chest right open, pulling out his still beating heart. Jesus, I can still remember the massacre, blood everywhere and every single one of your kind tearing people left and right. You looked quite happy in that bloodbath and the image of you drowning another man is something I cannot forget,” he spat angrily, his fingers curling into fists. Till saw how Paul’s face became pale and how he suddenly became stiff in Richard’s embrace, “and on top of that I did some digging and found a couple of old books, I know you guys kill whenever you want, no special occasion needed. And I know you like to play with your prey, it can take weeks or months.”

Richard flexed his jaw and continued to stare into Till’s eye, “they wanted to hurt my people. They got hurt in return, simple as that. I don’t see Paul planning on murdering me nor anyone else. He hasn’t even met anyone else and most of the time I had to beg him to be with me,” he straightened his back and once again got closer to Paul.

“Once Paul starts to trust someone it’s an unconditional trust. He could be blinded by his own feelings to see any kind of betrayal from you.”

“Till! Are you kidding me?!” Paul finally spoke out, “Why are you like this? You’ve never cared about me this much! I have my own brain and it’s my decision what I do in my life. Richard has never done anything that would do me any harm.”

“I’m worried cuz’ I know what they’re capable of! Just please stop defending him and look at it from my side, okay? You were lying to me this whole time and now you have this smirking little shit behind you,” Till moved his sight towards the merman who really was smirking, his head ducked behind Paul’s ear where he occasionally left a kiss or two, “and I promise I will try to keep calm and leave you be if he will tell me his intentions with you. And you both promise me to stop lying. It’s _that_ easy.”

“I don’t really have anything to hide from you. I just want to spend my time here, together with him,” Paul looked up from Richard to Till with pleading eyes, hoping for Richard to say the same, “We will be careful and I will tell you everything that’s gong on. Does that sound good?” Paul pointed his look on Richard and waited for the merman’s statement.

“I cannot vouch for the thing we’ll do but I can tell you that Paul is safe with me. I want to spend my time with him and listen to his adventures,” Richard finally spoke in a calmer tone.

“Adventures, yeah, right,” Till snorted to himself, “Fine. I’ll leave you be. But just so you know, I still don’t trust you with Paul, Richard. If you ever hurt him I swear to god I will hunt you and your whole family down and skin you until you bleed all over the oceans, got it?”

“Of course, no need to be so dramatic,” Richard sarcastically answered, not even looking at Till and rather gazing into Paul’s eyes.

“Good. Then I’ll see you around. Or not in the better case,” Till sighed as he slowly backed onto the land from the pier, “I suppose you’re staying outside, Paul?”

“Yeah, I am. Don’t wait for me,” Paul paused, “but of course I will return, I’ve got my phone with me, is that good?”

“I suppose. See you later.”

Till made few steps back and then turned around and headed for the cottage. When Paul squinted his eyes he could see an outline of an object behind Till’s shirt. At first Paul couldn’t make out what it was but then he realized; _oh god, did he really bring a gun? Where did he get it?_ Paul swallowed hard and tried not to think about the scenarios where the gun would be used. He rather turned around, and focused his whole attention towards the waiting merman. Richard was slightly pouting and looking towards the cottage.

“There. All sorted out. Now I won’t have to worry about Till anymore,” Paul smiled at the merman, though he felt nervous and unsure. Till’s comments about Richard killing people in cold blood filled him slightly with an unshakable fear. Nonetheless, his smile masked his emotions quite well and the merman did not question him, “Now we can get somewhere cosy, I’ll just grab the guitar and something to drink and we can disappear.”

When Richard heard Paul’s plan his face has immediately changed into a happier one. He still frowned a bit but the corners of his mouth turned slightly up, “That sounds good, Paulchen. I’ll wait for you,” he lifted one of his arms up and put it at the back of the smaller man’s neck, bringing him closer to himself. He chastely kissed him on the lips and then slowly slid down into the water. Paul nodded and jogged to the cottage to pick the necessary things up and bring them back into the boat. A few minutes later and Paul was already turning the vessel around and heading out away from the fishery. As he was leaving the fishery he patted his side just to be sure that the pocket knife was hidden well and secured. Better be safe than sorry.


	15. Conflicts

A few hours later and they were both laying on a deserted beach. Richard was once again holding the guitar in his lap, slowly strumming out chords with the help of Paul’s guidance. The merman felt proud that he could so quickly learn from Paul, a few days ago he barely knew what this instrument was and now he was putting together melodies just as Paul did. What made him a bit worried was that even though Paul defended him when he was facing Till, he now looked quite distanced, zoning out as if he was afraid all over again. Every time he tried to move closer, the smaller man flinched and moved a bit away, keeping distance between them. He knew that Paul was quite easily overwhelmed, so Richard tried to be as gentle as possible. He put down the guitar next to him and moved closer to Paul but as slowly as possible, reaching one of his hands towards him and gently putting it on Paul’s thigh.

“Are you alright? I think that Till should leave us be now, so you can finally properly relax.”

Silence was his answer.

Richard tried to look into Paul’s eyes but the smaller man averted them away, watching the setting sun instead. He could see as Paul was nervously playing with the sand, his hand close to him as if he tried to protect himself from an attack. His Adam’s apple bobbled as he loudly swallowed and then looked with a sigh back at Richard. The merman encouragingly squeezed his thigh and smiled at the smaller man.

“What’s going on, baby? We finally have all the time just for ourselves, what more do we need?” He moved a bit closer, moving his hand from Paul’s leg to his neck, cupping his jaw and pointing his head towards him. When he saw the distrust in Paul’s eyes it almost broke his heart. He grabbed him more firmly and started to persistently stroke his jaw, waiting for the answer.

“Why did you lie to me?”

“What?!”

“Why did you lie to me, Richard?”

“I didn’t lie to you, I wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t dare? Then oh, please, explain to me what you meant that you barely ever kill someone, that you guys are harmless, even though you apparently killed happily in cold blood. Multiple times,” the more Paul talked the more bitter has his voice turned, the last words were almost spat out if it weren’t for the fact that Paul was also at the verge of crying. That fact Richard didn’t need to know, Paul just didn’t want to loose it in front of him.

“I didn’t want to scare you off! I wanted to tell you about it eventually!-“

“Oh don’t lie to me! If you want me to be here with you just please, stop lying to me.”

“I- dammit,” Richard sighed and shook his head. He thought that everything would go smoothly after the encounter with Till but instead of that only more problems appeared on the horizon, “Okay Paul, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you about it ‘cuz I know you would run away! What was I supposed to do, huh? I didn’t see it as relevant to tell you about that part of my life as it would do you no good,” irritation infected Richard speech but he tried to keep it down as much as possible, a meaningless argument is the last thing he wants to have.

“Jesus, I don’t know what you were supposed to do! Certainly not to lie to me, you have no idea how I feel right now… Fucking hell, I can’t believe I’ve let a murderer get so close to me,” Paul sighed and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and burying his hands into his hair. He massaged his scalp and then looked back at Richard through the gap between his fingers. Richard was laying on his side, with his brow furrowed and his hand nervously massaging the sand as a cat would do with a blanket. When he heard that Paul accused him of being a murderer he snapped his head back up and frowned, even slightly barring his teeth.

“Don’t speak about me like that!” he snapped, “I had no choice but to protect my own people! And it is nothing but a natural thing to do, to hunt. I’m sorry that you feel that much disgusted with it,” he grabbed Paul’s hand and yanked it away from his face, his force making Paul jerk from his place. Paul had to extend his hand in front f himself so he wouldn’t immediately collide with the merman’s chest. But before he could even properly sit back Richard took his head into both of his hands and held it in place, forcing Paul to look into his eyes, “I swear I was speaking the truth when I told you I wouldn’t dare to hurt you. You’re a good man, a great man, you should not be afraid of me.”

“For fuck’s sake, I don’t care what you call me, I care about your lies and just how many you’ve told me. How can I be sure now of anything? How can I know that you’re not lying to me right now?” Paul bitterly looked into the merman’s eyes and then after a short pause continued, “You’re just an animal living in the sea. Lying and killing for your own personal pleasure,” Paul sneered as he once again pulled his head out of Richard’s hands.

That comment made Richard actually growl and just as the sound left his throat, Paul’s blood turned ice cold. The merman jerked himself from his side and threw himself atop of Paul, crushing him with his weight down into the sand. Paul got his air knocked out of him and before he could wiggle himself from under Richard, the merman had already grabbed his hands and locked them in a grip above Paul’s head. His other hand used as a leverage as he didn’t want to crush Paul completely, he laid on him with enough weight just to make sure that Paul won’t move away or do something stupid.

“An animal? _An animal_?! How different am I from yours people, huh?! As far as I know we don’t hunt others just so we could keep them in cages or skin them down and wear them as a goddamn trophy! How many times have we been attacked and ruthlessly killed just for the _personal pleasure_ of your people! I didn’t even know you could be capable of such disgusting thoughts,” Richard hissed into Paul’s face, squeezing his hand and glaring onto the smaller man.

“Let me go you freak! Let. Me. GO!” Paul screamed back, vigorously trashing from side to side and moving limbs. He started to feel claustrophobic, the merman was laying on him, he couldn’t move and his vision was obscured by Richard’s broad shoulders. His breaths became quicker as he tried to move his head away from the merman’s glare, which was almost burning holes into his face, “fucking hell, Richard!” He managed to wiggle one of his out and tried to push the merman off of himself, fingers burying into his shoulders. When he realized that Richard won’t move he did the last possible thing he could; Paul moved his hand from Richard’s arm towards his trunks and grabbed the knife inside his pocket. He felt the cool handle in his palm and slowly pulled it out. Before he could have any second thoughts he pushed the button on the handle and let the cool blade spring out of it.

The moment Richard heard the soft _clink_ of the blade snapping open he froze. Slowly he moved his gaze from Paul’s face towards the side to look at the knife loosely laying in the smaller man’s hand. The shock of what he saw made all of his blood freeze. He looked back at Paul with disbelief in his eyes, the smaller man’s eyes were wide with fear though he tried to mask it as much as possible. Richard then slowly looked back at the knife and when everything clicked in in brain he became furious. With a clenched jaw and raging eyes he looked back into Paul’s eyes and snarled, anger mixed with betrayal coming out of his throat in mixed growls. He had no word for Paul and his actions so he grabbed Paul’s wrist and yanked the knife away from him. He inspected the sharp edge of it, twisting it between his and Paul’s face.

Paul swallowed and stopped moving completely. The merman could in a few swift moves end his life in a blink of an eye. He knew that taking out the knife was a mistake but at the heat of the moment he panicked and haven’t had a better idea than to take it out. He didn’t even know what he would do with it, he would probably even throw it away if he had more time. But Richard’s senses were sharp and before he knew it the merman was dangling the damned blade in front of his face, barring his teeth and looking like a rabid dog. Oh how quickly has his life turned upside down once more, the man he kept snogging the last few days was now above him and most likely deciding if he should kill him or not. So Paul just closed his eyes and shakily let out a breath, leaving the merman free reign over his fate. He knew he fucked up by angering him and there was nothing in his power that he could do.

But instead of any violence the only thing that happened was that Richard threw away the knife, away from them and slid down from Paul’s chest. He let go of his hands, took a deep breath and murmured, “just look at yourself. One disagreement and you’re already pulling a knife on me. How am I supposed to trust you, huh? Preparing it for me as if I was some kind of animal… oh wait, I apparently am one.”

Just as he could, Paul jumped up and moved away from Richard, keeping a save distance between them. His only advantage was that the merman was slow on dry land, so as long as he keeps out of the water he’s safe. Richard’s jab at him made his blood boil again. How dare he to turn the blame his way! He looked at the frowning merman and pointed an accusative finger at him, “Stop with this shit! A few hours ago it was revealed to me that the man I’m with is a murderer. I took it with me for self defence if you tried to do something unexpected, which you almost did! You know I have no strength compared to you and this was the only thing for protection I could get, so fuck off with your playing-the-victim bullshit,” Paul spat back, puffing his chest as much as possible.

Richard listened to him but the more Paul talked the less he wanted to be near him. With the couple of last words he made up his mind and did the only thing to stop Paul from going on with his rant. He turned around and moved towards the sea, slithering into it. He could hear Paul’s angry shouts behind him, accusing him of being a coward but he didn’t care. Could not care. The sole reality that he had to get away from him was hurting him bad enough. With a last glance he turned around and saw Paul standing in the water, a look of confusion and anger clearly written on his face, “Good bye, Paul,” he quietly uttered before he dipped down and disappeared under the surface of the water.

Paul stood dumbstruck in the water his mouth slightly open and glaring at the place where Richard’s head disappeared, “motherfucker.”

…

He returned back home when the moon was already shining high up in the sky. He messily parked the boat, tied it down and stomped his way into the cottage. He could see through the lit windows that Till was sitting in the kitchen, eating something. As he entered the porch and the woods creaked under him, Till turned his head towards him and watched him from the windows. Paul didn’t want to talk to him at all, the only thing he wanted to do was to have a brisk shower and to disappear into his room and preferably to never exit it again. But before he could wordlessly slip by the bigger man, Till had already started speaking.

“So how did your date with the fish-man go? I see you survived,” Paul could hear that Till tried to sound funny but the bitterness was still in his tone just as well.

“Oh fuck off, I don’t wanna talk right now,” Paul pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and moved towards the stairs.

“Excuse me?”

“Just. Just leave me be Till. Please. I don’t want this day to get worse, if it’s even possible.”

“Worse? What the hell happened, Paul?” Paul’s distressed tone was easy to pick up.

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay? I’m fucking tired and angry, ‘cuz apparently the world is full of fuckers and I can’t live a normal happy life. Good night.”

Till didn’t even have time to stop Paul before he disappeared into the bathroom, slammed the door behind him and locked it. _What the hell has happened?_


	16. Stubbornness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm almost done with my exams, yay!

“Earth to Paul, hello? You’ve been staring at that ham for at least ten minutes, are you sure you’re alright?” Till asked Paul as he stepped next to him and overlooked the display of meats. Not that there were many to choose from.

They were again at a grocery store, stocking up food for the few next days. Since morning Paul looked like a body without a soul, a zombie walking from one place to another, not being able to finish even the easiest of tasks. The dark circles under his eyes were also an evidence that he didn’t spend his night sleeping. Till tried to coax any kind of information of what happened but except for a few grunts, Paul denied to communicate in full sentences. He then decided to simply command the smaller man around, forcing him from the cottage into the car and going with him into the village. Till could only guess what happened the day before, he of course had a vague idea that the two men argued but he didn’t know how serious it was. He knew that he was being a bad friend when he was a little bit happy that the two created some kind of distance between themselves but if Paul’ll continue to be this mute he will have no other choice than to try and solve their lover’s spat.

Right now they were standing in front of the many cooling boxes in the shop. Till had sent him there to pick up meat and hams for them but Paul was not even able to pick up these things. The smaller man had a thousand mile stare and continued to stand motionlessly next to Till. Sighing, the bigger man picked up a few packets himself, threw them into the basket and turned to Paul, “Goddammit Paul, you need to tell me what’s happened between you and Richard. You’re more useless than you were when you arrived here. Did the merman do something to you? Did he hurt you?”

Silence.

“For fuck’s sake Paul, I will punch it out of you if I have to. What’s happened?”

“Nothing has happened.”

“Bullshit,” while Till was happy that Paul finally spoke, the answer gave him nothing, “you’re gonna tell me what the fish has done to you, you promised me you’ll tell me everything. So go on.”

“Yeah, we fought. Everything got fucked up. Are you happy?” Paul pointed his eyes towards Till, hurt visibly appearing in them, “Since yesterday everything got turned upside down. Again.”

“Did he hurt you, Paul?” Till lowered his voice as they were filling their bags, “I swear to god if the merman laid a finger on you-“

“Jesus Christ Till, he didn’t hurt me,” Paul hissed towards Till and immediately lowerd his voice. A couple of men looked curiously their way. Paul just hoped that they couldn’t understand any German, “if anything I was the one who almost hurt him. Scared the fucker back into the sea I did.”

“What?” till snorted, “what did he do to deserve that, huh? I thought you two couldn’t get enough of each other.”

“It was kind of difficult to stay near him knowing what he has done. Didn’t know he could get that offended because of my own fears,” Paul almost again stumbled into an another pair of people. After a haste excuse in their direction he continued, “He then tried to guilt trip me into believing he’s the victim of all of this. Idiot forgot that it was him who actually killed and drowned people, not me. He was the one who lied to me.”

Till could hear how Paul’s voice started to tremble and how his movements became jerky and angry. Before they could attract more attention, Till grabbed the bags and threw them into the pickup and ushered the smaller man into the passenger’s seat. When he himself got behind the wheel he looked back at the smaller man. Paul was looking again in nothing in particular, eyes not moving anywhere, barely even blinking. His hand was pressed to his jaw, covering his mouth through which he was deeply breathing.

“Why does my life have to be so fucked up, Till? I can’t even find anyone to be with; It always turns into shit,” Paul sighed and moved his hand to his brow massaging it as if he were trying to get rid of the bad memories, “It’s fucking funny I started seeing a guy. If somebody told me a few months back I’d be comfortable with being together with a man I’d punch them. If he didn’t lie to me and be more honest about his life, I wouldn’t mind it, but you know how I am with people and their honesty and trust,” he sourly smiled at Till.

“Yeah I know, I remember how long it took you to trust me completely,” Till didn’t say anything after that. He rather steered the car onto the road and tried to think of a proper thing to say. Usually, he was great with words but now they didn’t want to come to him. What was he supposed to say? On one hand he could see how happy Paul has become during his stay at the island, no less thanks to the merman. On the other he didn’t like that of all of the people and creatures, he had to get attached to Richard. The mermen were unpredictable and as much as he could be genuinely interested in Paul he could just as well be preparing to strike and kill him. He was afraid that these games would cost his friend his life. But the more he tried to remember Paul’s behaviour and Richard’s protectiveness of Paul, the more he knew that the thing between those two, (whatever it was) was genuine.

Till momentarily closed his eyes and sighed, he had to interfere somehow, “Look. I am the last one who wants to be the one telling you this, but I think you guys should try and talk it out. You didn’t spent the days here being happy for no reason, right? Just try to remember how Richard acted around you. If you let him talk and explain his past and his intentions with you I’m sure everything will clear out,” he looked at Paul to make sure he was listening to him, “and if it goes southwards, you can always stay away from the sea or at least from the places where he lives, I’m sure he had showed them to you,” he raised his eyebrows and tried for a hopeful smile.

After a short pause Paul answered, “you really think I want to see him again? I’m seriously contemplating returning back home.”

“C’mon Paul. Don’t tell me that after one misunderstanding you’re gonna throw everything away.”

“One misunderstanding? He-“

“PAUL.”

“Fucking hell, Till. I don’t know what to do, okay?”

“Talk to him. It’s not gonna kill you. I think.”

“…Fine. But when I’m ready. Now I would just beat him up. Or at least try to.”

“Do as you think, but please, sort it out.”

…

For three days did Paul avoid the sea. He rather spent his time in the gardens or inside the cottage, working on anything that could have been repaired, painted, mowed or collected. Every time Till tried to ask Paul if he is going to finally confront the merman Paul just excused himself that he has a lot of work and can’t be bothered to do anything at the moment. Even though Till had found him a few minutes later dozing of under a tree. When Till had a change to get onto the sea he kept looking around himself, if he’d lucky and meet the merman he’d try to talk to him but he had no such luck. He knew he was watched but he could never find the owner of the eyes. He also made sure that Paul wouldn’t be able to arrange secretly his journey back home. Not that he wanted to keep him from his broken family, but he had to first figure out his relationship here, then move onto the next one.

Finally on the fourth day, during breakfast, Paul decided to speak up, “I think I’ll try to find Richard today and speak to him, or at least try to,” Till raised his eyes from his breakfast; Paul was trying to keep busy by spreading butter over his bread, again to appear busy, “So can I take the boat? I guess I won’t find him here by the pier,” he finally raised his head and tried to put on a brave smile.

“Yeah you can. Just keep your phone close by and don’t hesitate to call me, alright? And try to stay calm, I’m sure you guys’ll be able to figure thing out.”

“Yeah, lets hope.”

After the breakfast Paul gathered a couple of things, such as a few water bottles, some snacks and his phone. When his hand hovered above the knife which he took last time he froze above it in uncertainness. He took it into his hand but as he was leaving the cottage he stopped, put the knife on the nearest surface and left it there. It took him only a couple of minutes to untie the boat and turn it around, soon he was going away, heading straight to the rocky islands.

When he arrived there, he had no idea what to do. At first he tried to look into the depths under him; maybe he would be able to catch a glimpse of the colourful tail. With no such luck he then climbed a couple of rocks, looking around and trying to see if perhaps the merman is not laying there somewhere on the warm sun. No one in sight either. Paul sighed and looked back to the boat. _Where could he be?_ It was never hard to meet the merman, mostly because he was always following him everywhere he went. Paul was sure that even now the merman was close, even though he didn’t want to appear.

He had no other choice than to move somewhere else, so he hopped back into the boat and decided to try one of the beaches instead. But even there he found nothing, Paul was becoming more and more agitated; he was finally brave enough to face Richard and yet the merman was nowhere to be found. He has already been on numerous beaches, all of them deserted, he visited all the places where they met even the one place where they argued but still, Richard did not show up.

…

Paul was strolling on a deserted beach, he couldn’t even remember if he visited this one with the merman or not. It was already late afternoon and he still couldn’t find the damn merman and he started to doubt everything that Till had said. He slowly climbed over smooth rocks in the shallow water, carefully stepping from one another and trying not to slip into the sea. Soon the rocks stopped and Paul found himself at the edge of one of them, the smooth texture comfortable against his soles. His thoughts have returned back to Richard and his absence. It was true that even though Paul was angry, he still kind of missed the other man’s presence. Richard has never failed to make him laugh, to be amazed by his tales or just simply keep him happy in his presence. Paul was afraid that the feelings he started to feel towards the merman could have been described as _affection_ and he didn’t know what to do with it. It made him angry that he felt that way, he wanted uncomplicated life and instead of that he was running across deserted beaches, trying to find a creature that most of the world wouldn’t believe that existed. A snort escaped his lips and as he tried to shake his thoughts away he saw something with the corner of his eyes.

Not far from him the water rippled and moved in a different way than the rest of it and pretty soon a colourful tail had from time to time breached the surface. It still took some time and Paul was holding his breath the whole time but finally, Richard’s head appeared as well. They kept looking at each other wordlessly, Richard had his nose barely above the water, hiding the rest of his expression under it. Paul felt like it was eternity before the merman swam closer to him and raised himself a bit higher above the water, enough so the water kept gently splashing onto his collarbones.

“So I take it you weren’t just checking out all the places out of boredom, were you?”

“N-no. I was looking for you.”

“A bit hard when I don’t wanna be seen, huh? I was watching the whole time, y’know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Paul sighed and then took a deep breath, “Look, I wanted to talk to you. I think we both need to set a few thing straight.”

“Both of us? What, you’re gonna apologize for calling me an animal?”

“God dammit Reesh, let me talk. I _can_ apologize but you have to tell me everything first. P-please. If you tell me your story from the beginning without any lies then I can understand you much better,” he looked into the merman’s eyes then sourly snorted, “dammit, Till was right. As much as I hate to say it right now, it’d be a shame to throw everything that has happened behind us. So what about that; you tell me your story and I tell you mine and then hopefully we’ll understand each other better, hm?”

“Well, if you want to. Sure. But I don’t see how will your attitude towards me change now. You more or less know everything about me.”

“Then at least try to make more sense of it. Justify your actions. For me, please.”

“… Alright.”


	17. Temptation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit longer than usual but for a good reason ;)  
> also the lyrics ofc belong to RZK himself~

They both sat in the shallow waters, Paul was on one of the smooth rocks, his legs were dangling down from it, submerged. Richard was laying on the ground, with his elbows propped on the rock, one of his hands holding his brow; the water was shallow enough for him to lay in it yet to have his chest above it. The afternoon sun was warming the men up, making their difficult situation at least somehow pleasant. Paul was nervously fiddling with his thumbs, looking straight ahead of him and not daring to look at the merman.

So far Richard had described how the mercenaries hunted mermaids and how he became a part of the last raid. He told Paul how the men ruthlessly kidnapped their girls and locked them up inside of a ship, apparently not having enough. They had been used as bait for more of his people, as the men had suspected that the girls were pregnant and therefore very important to the mermaids. Richard then told him about how overprotective they can get when it comes to their own people, he tried to spare the gory details as he saw Paul flinching but told him about everything nonetheless. Of course, Till’s appearance was set straight as well, the man got onto the ship when the bloodbath was almost over, Richard told Paul how the man was watching them struggle with the heavy metal door, so he carefully approached them to help them out. Till almost got killed as well, but Richard said that he had protected him from the rest of the mermaids, while Till broke of the locks and helped to push the doors open. Till dragged the two girls out of the brig and let them get away with the rest of their kind. That was one of the gestures that made Richard trust the fisherman and therefore let him be. Later he discovered that he indeed was harmless so he suspected that anyone who was close to him was like him.

Paul kept nodding, he didn’t dare to interfere Richard when he finally was exposing his life. Only when Richard’s voice has quieted down did he look up at him; the merman was watching him with hopeful eyes, waiting for more questions.

“That’s what basically happened when the men attacked. The only other time I killed somebody, hell it wasn’t even me, was when we were still young. A couple of girls were trying to lure in a bunch of local fishermen closer to them and the only thing I did was that I made the ship rock, making it unsteady for the guys. The rest was the girls’ work. As usual,” Richard sat more properly in the water, moving a bit closer to Paul’s knees, “I’ve never did it for my own pleasure, you see. When I was younger I wanted to impress the girls, later I wanted to protect my people. I think you guys are quite interesting and I actually love watching you from a far. It’s cute when you’re trying to tame the sea, you have no idea how really powerless you guys are.”

Paul snorted and dug his toes into the smooth sand under the water. He looked up and watched as the water made the sunray’s dance over Richard’s body, making it appear more colourful than it already was. He then turned his eyes towards the merman’s eyes and discovered that the merman was already watching him, curious eyes studying his face, “What about the other mermaids then, where are they? It sounds that there is quite a few of you and I haven’t seen any other yet,” the thought that Richard was keeping him to himself just so he could have his own prey could not get away from his brain, “You keep talking about them but that is all they are, just a bunch of words.”

There was a pause before Richard took a deep breath and answered, “You haven’t met them because I’m afraid that if you did they’d hurt you.”

“What?”

“I-well, it’s not normal for us to get so close to humans, y’know. Some of the elders would even call it a crime, they say that only troubles come out of these kind of relationships,” Richard weakly smiled and extended his hand towards one of Paul’s. He lightly grabbed it, expecting Paul to jerk away, but was pleasantly surprised when the man let him hold it, “And if more of my people saw you they would sooner or later try to kill you. Either being afraid that you would expose us or simply because they’d want to get rid of you. The less people around, the better. And I cannot let them do that,” the merman pointed his eyes up pleadingly and slid closer to Paul, moving his hand towards his lips and lightly kissing it.

“So you’re telling me, that what you’re doing right now is kind of illegal? And that you’re protecting me?”

“Mmhm. Basically,” Richard nuzzled Paul’s hand to his face and started to massage it.

“Goddammit, Reesh,” Paul bitterly laughed, “this is all so ridiculous.”

The merman got scared by Paul’s words and his bitter laugh; his head shot upwards as his eyes tried to deduce Paul’s emotions, “I’m telling you the truth, Paul! I wanted to keep you away from them ‘cause I care about you! That’s why I followed you around even though there was no need to. I needed to know you’re save from danger.” He stopped himself before he could say more things which would just complicate the situation.

“I’m not laughing at you, you dummy. I’m laughing at the goddamn misunderstanding between us. Till already knows how difficult it is for me to trust anyone. I tend to double-question everything and then come up with stupid ideas. I’m a bit of an overthinker,” he looked at the merman and smiled more sincerely, “you should’ve seen Till back in the days, he almost went crazy from my stupid theories, said I could join the illuminati with a brain like mine.”

“The what?”

“Doesn’t matter. The thing is that I understand more now. And I’m sorry I called you those things, you don’t deserve them, that considering that you were protecting me the whole time. It’s just that you have to understand your way of life is still different from mine. Murder is not something I want to deal on regular basis.”

“Neither do I. All I want to do is be with you and be happy, can we do that?”

“Good. And I think we can, we can at least try. Thank you, Reesh, for everything,” Paul smiled and took Richard’s hands into his own, bringing them closer to his lips. He gently kissed them and when he saw the contended smile on Richard’s lips he kissed them again, each knuckle individually.

Richard smiled as he let go of Paul’s fingers and instead grabbed the rock, hoisting himself up onto it, right next to the smaller man. He put one arm around Paul’s shoulders bringing him even closer. He let Paul nestle on his shoulder and then he started to trace small circles on Paul’s arms, nuzzling his hair and inhaling his scent.

“I’ll do anything to prove to you that I’m trustworthy, I did not spend all these days around you just to fuck it all up and scare you away,” Richard mumbled into his hair after a gentle kiss, “I’m here for you.”

Paul eased away from the embrace to look back at Richard, a faint smile donning his lips, “I will trust you, I will try as much as possible. I’m happier when I’m with you.”

Richard let his hand slide from Paul’s shoulder to his neck which he cupped. He massaged Paul’s scalp and then turned the smaller man’s head towards him, “ _Good_. So am I, I care about you Paul. I’ll sing for you, I’ll protect you… I’ll love you, anything you want I’ll do,” he barely whispered as he closed the distance between them, stopping a millimetre before Paul’s lips. As he murmured the last words their lips brushed against each other, “May I kiss you Paul?”

A gentle smile and blushing cheeks was Richard’s answer. But before he could ask again Paul pushed himself onto his chest, slithering his hands onto Richard’s shoulders and kissing his lips. The merman laughed into the kiss, hugging the smaller man closer to himself. They kissed as if for the first time, slowly and carefully yet there was something more behind it. Yearning which both tried to fight and supress but they had no such luck. Soon, Richard made the kiss sloppier by darting his tongue out and tasting Paul’s lips and coaxing the other tongue out. Paul hummed appreciatively and moved his body closer to the merman, standing on his knees just to straddle the other man over his hips. They both continued to kiss only stopping when they were getting out of breath. Paul laughed and nuzzled his face into Richard’s neck, slowly nibbling his skin up to his ear.

He then kissed it and hummed, “Dammit, why are you so nice. You’re almost like a drug that I can’t get enough,” He smiled as he looked back into Richard eyes and gave him a brief peck on the tip of his nose. Then he stopped as a thought appeared in his brain, he raised his eyebrows and looked questioningly at Richard, “wait, you’d sing form me?”

“If you want to, then I’ll gladly will, anything for you, baby,” Richard squeezed Paul’s sides and left his hands on his hips, massaging them.

“You know, I’d actually love to. The only time I think I’ve heard you was during the nights and all the voices blended together in the end.”

Richard smiled and hugged Paul again, bringing him close to himself. He was a bit confused by Richard actions but let the merman do as he pleases. He felt his arms tighten around him and then they slid from the rock into the water, suddenly sitting almost up to chins in the cool sea. Richard then pushed Paul higher onto the beach, where smoothened stones connected with the sand and where the water kept splashing over in repeated waves.

“Let me hold you first, it may have been only a few days but I’ve missed you so much,” Richard nuzzled Paul’s chest and laid the man onto the sand. He laid next to him, letting the water splash over their lover bodies, their heads resting on the dry land. Paul willingly opened his arms and let the merman get comfortable in his embrace before he pulled him closer to himself. Richard put his head on Paul’s chest and listened to his heartbeat, lazily drawing circles over his heart and then the rest of his body. He kept stroking the smaller man’s chest and watched as he slowly fell asleep. His muscles relaxed, his breathing became deeper and his heart slowed down.  The merman raised himself onto his elbow and watched Paul doze off under him.

He felt his heart swell with so many feelings, with pride, affection, happiness, with _love_. There was no mistake, Richard had to chuckle at the realization, he was in love and with a human nonetheless. He stroked Paul’s arm which was resting on his stomach and traced his way up, to his collarbones, where he laid his hand down. The leaders of his school would be angry if they knew he was spending his days with a human. In a way it was a rebellion against them, the elders tended to protect their males too much, afraid if something happened to them their people would perish. Even though they were free, there still was kind of a duty for the males to stay with the school and ensure that there’ll be enough offspring in the next generations. Not only did Richard stay away from any kinds of permanent bonds, he got attached to a human, which was unthinkable. There were stories such as his, but every time one of the nannies talked about a mermaid falling in love with a human, especially during the golden time of piracy, it had never ended pleasantly for neither of the lovers. But Richard knew that times were different now; the hunts were sparse, people stopped looking for them, he lived in the middle of nowhere and Paul was the kindest creature he had ever met.

Richard bit into his lower lip as he watched the smaller man sleep, he couldn’t supress the smile. He traced his hand up to cup one of Paul’s cheeks and stroked his thump over it. He leaned down and softly kissed the other man on his lips

“I love you,” he whispered into them and kissed them once more.

The merman scooped a bit higher and laid on his side above Paul, supporting his head by his hand. He curled his tail around the man’s figure as if he tried to shield him from the outside world and used his other hand to gently play with Paul’s hair. He stayed there like that for some time, maybe an hour, the whole time contemplating how lucky he was that he was with the man again and how he wouldn’t trade his position for anything. As he stroked Paul’s hair he started to hum, at first nothing in particular just melodies that escaped his lips in the pure joy he felt. Then slowly he started to shape the noise until he was humming a complete song. That of course has woken up Paul, Richard saw as the smaller man stirred in his sleep and before he lazily opened his eyes, he stretched his legs and arms. He looked up and smiled at the merman, then he tried to entangle his legs with his tail so he could stay connected with the merman.

Richard smiled back at him, continuing with his hums, then slowly changing them into actual words.

_“Don't you know that you're so special  
Don't you ever cloud your thoughts like falling rain”_

Paul’s smile widened as he heard Richard’s words, his hushed voice sending shivers down his body. He grabbed Richard’s hand and pulled it from his hair to his mouth, kissing it gently.

_“Don't you want to know my story_  
_Guess I could explain it if I tried_  
_I don't want to keep expanding_  
_And I'm sorry that I lied”_

Richard’s voice got filled with emotions, bowing lower so he could plant a gentle kiss on Paul’s brow.

_“Don't you want to make me over_  
_Don't you feel that everything's a test_  
_Want to disappear inside you_  
_Because that's home I feel the best”_

After the last syllable left his lips he lowered his head once more, this time his lips sensually attacking Paul’s. The smaller man grunted in surprise, shocked at first, but then immediately put his hands into Richard’s hair, pushing him closer to himself. Paul opened his mouth and struck his tongue out, meeting with Richard’s halfway and caressing him with it. They continued for a while until Paul started to giggle, Richard following soon after.

Richard slithered back down, aligning his body with Paul’s and grabbing his head into his hands. Paul grabbed one of his palms and moved it to his mouth kissing it and looking back at the merman with smiling eyes. The other hand slithered down his body until Richard anchored it at his hip, drawing small circles against it with his thumb.

“You’re so gorgeous,” the merman whispered, as he observed Paul’s face, washed in golden colours from the setting sun.

Paul blushed, “well, so are you. No wonder the legends described mermaids as being extremely beautiful.”

“Did they? What else did they said about us?” Richard cocked his eyebrow and lowered his face, giving Paul a couple of eskimo kisses.

“How magical your songs are. And that you’re incredible lovers,” Paul cheekily smirked dragging his nails across Richard’s shoulderblades.

Richard groaned at the touch and pushed his chest against Paul’s, moving his lips to the shell of Paul’s ear and licking it, “and are we?” He bit down as he psuhed more of his weight onto the smaller man.

“I think so, but you’ll have to persuade me, so I can know for sure,” Paul moaned the last couple of words as Richard’s hand dug his nail into his sides and kneaded his skin.

Richard raised himself just enough to see into Paul’s eyes and when he made eyecontact he hissed his final words, “then I’m gonna make you feel so good today you won’t be capable of walking tomorrow,” as a testament he grinded his hips into Paul’s, making the smaller man mewl.

Immediately they kissed again, Richard climbing over Paul’s legs so he could get comfortably nestled in between them. He caressed every possible part of Paul’s body, stopping at his neck which he cradled and then turned to the side for better access. Paul let him, gladly letting him slip his tongue into his mouth. In return he stroked the merman’s back and sides, carefully going over the slits on his sides and kneading his back as hard he could. He pushed his hips up, grinding them against Richard’s and squeezing him with his thighs in a tight hug.

Richard moaned at the contact, pushing his body into Paul’s and grinding back, just so they could create some kind of friction between themselves. He vigorously kissed Paul’s lips, tasting every bit of him as much as possible. He then moved to his jaw, trailing his lips on it and sticking his tongue out. He bit Paul in the crook of his neck where it connected with his collarbones and sucked hard, properly marking him. Paul dug his nail into Richard’s shoulders, scratching him across them. He grunted in appreciation and raised his hips up again, now feeling the bugle that appeared under the merman’s scales. He wasn’t surprised anymore, his own dick was waking up in interest, slowly but surely getting hard and making Paul impatient.

Meanwhile the merman moved lower, focusing solely on his nipples. He sucked one with his mouth, licking it and gently biting on it while he played with the other one, rolling and squeezing it between his fingers. Paul moaned at the touch, and affectionately combed his fingers through Richard’s hair. The merman leaned into the touch as he moved from one nipple to the other, switching his hands just as well. He kissed Paul’s palm before he returned to the other nipple, giving it just as much attention as the first one got. Richard only stopped when he felt the smaller man writhing under him and almost mewling in despair. When he felt Paul’s already hard cock rubbing against his hips it was like Richard lost the last pieces of his sanity. He growled and plunged himself down, kissing his way down across Paul’s belly and navel, licking his happy trail and biting down right above the hem of Paul’s trunks.

Richard let out a chuckle when he felt how Paul automatically raised his hips, waiting for the merman to help him to get the articles of clothing off him. He of course didn’t waste his time and did so, licking his lip at the sight of Paul’s cock. Paul meanwhile got rid of his t-shirt, throwing it next to them and returning his attention back to Richard, who was happily lowering himself down between his legs. Next moment Paul felt Richard’s tongue and lips on his balls, hungrily lapping over them and sucking them inside his mouth. Paul moaned and pushed Richard’s face closer to his crotch as he pulled on his hair in waves of pleasure. The merman has then moved to Paul’s cock, licking it slowly from the base all the way up its underside and lapping over the head. He licked off the precum that had appeared on the slit and then slowly took the shaft in his mouth, hollowing his cheeks as he went lower and lower. When he reached the base he looked up and if he could, he would smile. While Paul held him with one arm the other he had buried in his own hair, his eyes shut and his face filled with pleasure. He took the cock out of his mouth to breathe and before Paul could look down at him he swallowed the head again, bobbing his head in rhythm up and down. Every time Paul pulled his hair the merman hummed in appreciation, causing his throat vibrate and making the smaller man go mad from the sensations.

As he saw Paul quicken his breaths and moan continuously he let go of him, afraid he would finish their fun prematurely. He let all of his saliva glide down the cock and spread it around it with his hand as he raised himself with the other.

Paul looked at him, his chest heaving and waited for the next move. He let his eyes hungrily take in the merman’s muscular chest, his firm stomach and then his hips with his own cock peeking out and already glistening with Richard’s excitement. He swallowed, he wanted more yet the thought of doing so made him nervous yet excited.

Richard saw Paul’s nervous fidgeting and moved up his body, gently aligning it with his and taking Paul’s head into his hands, “What is it, baby?” He whispered as he kissed his cheeks, gently rocking his hips against the smaller man’s.

“I… I want more, but I’m afraid. Afraid I won’t enjoy it.”

“You want more? Really? I can do that, I’ll make you feel so good you won’t feel anything but pleasure, love.”

“Yeah, I know. And I want you to, just be careful, ok?”

“I will be,” the merman whispered as he gently kissed the smaller man on his lips.

While he did do, he used one of his hands to pick up Paul’s discarded t-shirt and held it in his hand until they parted their lips away.

“Move your hips a bit for me, baby. You don’t want to get the sand between us,” he smirked as Paul blushed and looked away, obediently raising them up and letting Richard spread the shirt under him.

Once the shirt was spread under Paul’s hips Richard moved up again and started gently kissing Paul to distract him from the oncoming things. He moved his right hand down to his own cock and stroked it a few times, gathering the natural slick in his hands.  It was something the mermen produced, to keep the sex in the water as much comfortable as possible for both parties. He then moved his hand towards Paul’s entrance and started to gently stroke it with his fingertips. Paul’s breath hitched as he felt Richard’s touch but slowly tried to relax as the merman nuzzled his face and left kisses everywhere he could on his face. Richard felt the sharp intake of breath as he pushed his forefinger inside of Paul, so he stopped and let the man get used to the sensation, only continuing when he felt him relax and heard a whispered encouragement for more. Once he found Paul’s special spot and started to stroke it the smaller man couldn’t stop the flood of moans. Soon after the forefinger was joined by another finger and Richard once again slowed down to make Paul feel more comfortable. He kissed him, coaxing Paul’s tongue out and sucking on it, just to plunge his own inside his mouth. When he started to scissor his fingers, combining the movements with repeated strokes over the smaller man’s prostate, the loud moans returned. He did so for quite some time, Richard didn’t stop until he felt Paul completely relax under him and actually push his hips down onto his fingers. He left a final lingering kiss on Paul’s lips as he removed his fingers.

Richard chuckled at Paul’s whine when the pleasure stopped. The smaller man looked into his eyes; his eyes were wide, dark with desire and want. The merman could still detect some nervousness which he tried to get rid of by stroking his jaw, hooking his thump in Paul’s mouth.

“Alright, baby?” Richard breathlessly asked, he was getting impatient, after all he barely touched himself and now was at the verge of making love to the smaller man.

Paul nodded, treaded his fingers in Richard’s hair and pulled him closer to himself, kissing him and sucking his lower lip, “Yeah,” he whispered as he let go and waited for Richard to move.

Richard repositioned himself, leaning on his left hand which he laid next to Paul’s head and used his right to slowly guide himself inside of the other man. Even if it almost physically hurt, he still didn’t go further than a couple of inches, he had to be sure that Paul was enjoying it. As he felt Paul’s hips moving towards him he moved a bit more, getting more of his cock inside of him. They both groaned in pleasure, Richard barred his teeth and sunk them down into Paul’s jaw. He then moved closer to his earlobe and started sucking on it as he pushed more of himself into Paul, almost aligning their hips together.

Paul let out a chocked gasp and scratched Richard’s back. He felt so full, the feeling was so alien yet also so good. He wanted to stop and yet he wanted more of it. He breathlessly nodded at Richard, sweat rolling down his chest as he moved his hands to the back of Richard’s neck and back, stroking him over the scratches he has created.

Richard started to move, slowly at first, gently pulling away and then back inside, trying to tame his desire to completely ram himself inside. When Paul’s choked gasps turned into soft moans and as his legs locked tighter around his waist, Richard sped up. He rhythmically thrusted his cock inside Paul, every time trying to aim at the smaller man’s prostate which helped him to coax beautiful mewls out of him. Soon, their moans and grunts were joined by the slapping of their skins, the sounds driving both men delirious.

“Fuck, baby, you make me feel so good,” Richard panted as he thrusted inside of Paul, hitting him in his spot.

All Paul could do was moan and trash in pleasure. His whines were peppered with words like _more, yes right there, harder_ and _don’t stop_. He has never known he could even feel so much pleasure at once, his legs trembled and his nails dug into Richard’s skin every time he struck his hips to his own. What sent him into beyond return was when Richard grabbed his leaking cock and started to pump it rhythmically with his own hips, massaging the head with each stroke. Then his whole vocabulary shortened to only _ohs and ahs_ as his brain wasn’t able to construct anything more complicated. Richard’s cock repeatedly filling him and massaging him from the inside, his hand on his cock and the skilful tongue turned Paul into a complete puddle. He wasn’t even able to warn Richard that he’s close, the only thing he did was to push his hips against the merman’s as hard as he could and threw his head back, moaning Richard’s name.

The merman growled at the sight of Paul coming undone, he had never seen anything more beautiful. The man below him came into his hand and over himself, ropes of cum decorating his chest. He felt how Paul tightened around him, which made him growl in pleasure and speed up. It took him only a couple of more thrust before he came as well, spilling himself inside of Paul and biting down into his shoulder, to quieten his howls of pleasure.

They both panted, laid together and tried to collect their thoughts for a couple of moments before Richard huffed and smiled, “you okay, baby?” He became a bit unsure as he saw moisture in the crow’s feet around Paul’s eyes but relaxed when realized how happy Paul looked.

“Yeah... that was amazing, Reesh,” he smiled at him and raised his right hand up to stroke the merman across his jaw just to pull him down for a kiss.

Richard reciprocated the kiss yet couldn’t for long as a grin appeared on his face. He was so happy he couldn’t stop himself, “I love you, I really do, baby,” he felt foolish but happy nonetheless.

Paul got a bit taken back. He didn’t expect the confession but what he felt at the moment he didn’t feel for a really long time, “I- I love you too. I’m glad to be with you.”

He barely had a chance to finish his sentence as Richard kissed him again, happy that his love was returned. He nibbled at Paul’s lips, nuzzled them and then whispered, “you’re mine, Paul. Nobody else’s,” Richard raised his head a little to watch as he traced the love-bites on Paul’s neck.

“So it seems,” Paul chuckled as he once more connected their lips.


	18. Carelessness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birthday to RZK wohoooo~!

When Paul finally returned to the fishery it was already dark. Richard tried to persuade him to stay with him overnight at the beach but the shivers and rumbling stomach of the smaller man persuaded him to let him go back home. Even when Paul was throwing things back into his boat he stayed as close as possible, pulling the man closer to himself and showering him in goodbye kisses.

Paul didn’t even try to avoid Till now, there was no need to hide the fact that he had met with the merman, his tardiness and marked body explained it quite easily. He shyly greeted Till as he entered the cottage, heading straight for the shower. He needed to wash away the rest of his and Richard’s evidence of previous activities and all the salt that marred his skin. He could already feel the slight discomfort in his legs, but the warm water made him feel better as he gently massaged his sore spots. After he was finished he quickly dried himself, put on a fresh set of clothes and returned back to the kitchen. Till was still sitting there with his opened notebook, a pair of reading glasses on his nose, clearly writing something. The typing stopped and Till’s smirking face turned towards the smaller man.

“So by your late arrival I get it you’ve met the guy, hmm?” after a short inspection of Paul and his marked neck he snorted, “and by the way you look you guys’ve made up as well.”

“Well, yeah, we did,” Paul grabbed one of his forearms as a nervous teenager would do; he didn’t want to tell Till all the details. He rather took out his dinner out of the fridge and settled down across the bigger man, “we’ve talked it out now everything should be okay.”

“Just talked it out? Your neck tells me something different, dude. And I’m sure the rest of your body looks the same.”

“Jesus, Till. You don’t need all the details. Just trust me when I say that everything is okay now,” Paul paused and smiled to himself as he remembered their confessions, “more than okay.”

“Oh?”

“Dammit, Reesh told me about his life and we set our intentions straight-“

“Wouldn’t call them straight, really.”

“Shut up. The thing is that we trust each other now and that we don’t plan on abandoning each other,” Paul faintly brushed the most visible mark above his left collarbone and smiled once again.

“Oh god. It’s not only the merman who’s enamoured. You idiots are in love,” it wasn’t even a question, more of a statement as Till put his head into his hands, “of all the possibilities… What am I gonna do with you, Paulchen?”

“Nothing. I’m an adult, I can do whatever I want,” Paul’s blush creeped up to his ears making them turn red. He tried to finish his dinner as quickly as he could so he could disappear into his room.

“Yeah, but how can I be sure that you’re safe?” Till raised his eyebrow, looking at Paul above his glasses.

“Because,” Paul paused as he finished the last bits of his sandwich, “fucking hell Till, what do you want me to say? He confessed he’d do anything for me, he said he loves me and that I belong only to him. Is that enough?”

Till had to hold his laugh; as much as at first he disliked the idea of Paul being with Richard, he could now see how hopelessly in love the merman actually was with Paul. The few stories he found about the creatures suggested that if a mermaid or merman chose someone as their mate, they usually marked them as well and if the mindless following of the smaller man and the prominent marks have anything to prove, then it’s easy for Till to deduce that the merman had just attached himself to Paul, most likely forever. He finally snorted at the realization and returned his look towards the blushing man.

“Loves you, huh? Then good luck dealing with that,” Till looked back at his notebook and after a few click closed it down, “just be careful and don’t do anything reckless, okay? I wouldn’t be surprised if the fish was extremely jealous and tried to isolate you from everyone or if he later tried to do some weird stuff with you.”

“Weird stuff?”

“Yeah, like… I don’t know, try to have babies with you or something. I don’t know how their brain works.”

“Till! Jesus Christ! I’m not gonna talk about that with you!” Paul had to leave before he could embarrass himself even more, “I’ve told you I’m an adult, I can control my own love life,” he muttered as he put his plate into the sink and stamped out of the kitchen, heading for the stairs. As he was scaling them up he could hear Till from the kitchen.

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?” Till’s laugh quieted down and after a short pause, right before Paul shut the door to his room he could hear a shocked voice, “oh god Paul, don’t tell me that you- oh god, now I’m gonna have nightmares.”

…

The next day Till set back Paul’s plans as he made the smaller man accompany him back to the town for more supplies. Before they left Till promised to wait a couple of minutes to let Paul tell Richard about their plans. Unsurprisingly, the merman appeared in a few moments in front of the pier and fearlessly hoisted himself to kneeling Paul. Till was watching from the porch as Paul tried to keep the merman off of himself to keep his clothes dry and failing. He could see he was then explaining him something as Richard switched his sight from Paul to look straight at Till. The said man was happy that there was no malice in Richard’s eyes and that the merman nodded to everything Paul has told him. Till then averted his eyes; even though the merman seemed less hostile, the goodbye kiss he gave Paul seemed much more vicious than a normal one should be, no less than to make Till annoyed.

Now both men were sitting in the pick-up and slowly, their conversation turned out to be less and less awkward. Till learned that if he wants to prevent Paul turning red as a tomato he should stop mentioning any kind of _displays of affection_ between him and the merman. He might be an adult but he certainly is not capable of talking about _adult things_. On one hand Till was happy that he does not have hear any weird or gross details and on the other he could use this weakness of Paul’s as a future blackmailing stuff.

Once they’ve parked the car Till gave a bunch of instructions of what to do and disappeared his own way. Paul luckily knew where to get the things Till needed so it wouldn’t take him so long to buy them. But the town was getting filled with tourists coming there to spend their holidays in the hotels, thankfully, there weren’t many families around but still, a lot of groups of young people blocked his ways. Usually he would get annoyed but since yesterday’s encounter he could not shake off the happiness he felt, not that he even wanted to.

It didn’t take him long to bump into a group of men coming his way. He would fall down but a pair of strong hands caught him from doing so, holding him till he stood on his own feet again.

“Whoa there buddy, watch out where you’re going!” The man laughed, patting Paul on his back.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” Paul thought he would just thank the guy and be on his way but the man didn’t loosen his grip. He raised his eyebrows, “Thanks for catching me.”

“Man, didn’t I stumble into you some days before?”

Now Paul knew who the guys were, they were the same group that him and Till met in front of the shop, “I- yeah, that’s me.”

“Better stop thinking about your girl all the time or you’re gonna stumble into more people,” the man smirked and his friends laughed behind him.

“Excuse me?”

“You have that look of someone who’s in love. She must be quite _a_ _catch_ for you to be that lost.”

“Well, yeah,” Paul unconsciously rubbed the mark Richard left on his neck. He felt how the men were staring at it.

“I mean, that’s why we’re here as well, the locals are quite extraordinary, yeah?”

Paul didn’t know what to say, the American was babbling and his friends were crowding on him, making him uncomfortable.

“Does your girl have any friends? You could make things easier for us.”

Paul felt overwhelmed, the guys were asking him all kinds of questions and while it was easier to lie to strangers, he wasn’t really prepared to answer questions like those. He was ready to start explaining that it wasn’t really a girl who he was seeing but another voice cut through the chaos around him.

“Paul, you okay? Who’re these guys?” That was Till’s German. _Oh thank god._

“Till! Hey, good you’re here, I need bit of a help,” Paul sheepishly answered back in German. He looked at the guys who stopped chatting and looked at Till. Behind him stood Flake, his face twisted in permanent annoyance.

Till smirked and quietly muttered, “your fishboy can’t help you here on the dry land, huh? Don’t worry I got you.”

“Hey man, we were just asking your friend where he found his girlfriend, cuz’ I haven’t seen somebody so in love in a long time.”

Unimpressed, Till raised his eyebrows and looked back at the man, “I think my friend’s relationship will stay private. And let me just tell you this; the girls don’t really like nosy people. Have a nice day,” he bitterly smiled and pulled Paul away, almost dragging him towards Flake and further from the guys.”

“No hard feelings, man! We were just talkin’!” One of the guys shouted in German, making all three men turn around. Before they could answer the men had turned their backs to them and continued on their previous way.

“Idiots. Those are exactly the types of people that come to me whining they get sunburnt,” Flake sneered and after a short pause he faintly smiled at Paul, “Hi, Paul. How’re you doing?”

“Hey, much better now, thanks,” Paul shook his hand, “They were the same bunch of guys we stumbled upon the last time. It just seems they’re really chatty, nothing more.”

“Really chatty, uh-huh. The next thing I know you’re suddenly telling them about _everything_.”

“I would not. I’m not an idiot, Till.”

“Wouldn’t be so sure about that sometimes.”

Their bickering was stopped by Flake’s awkward cough, “what about we stop this and get something to eat? I don’t want to spend my oncoming shift hungry.”

“Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Lead the way,” Paul raised his hand towards the boulevards and waited for the taller man to start walking.

Soon, they were comfortably sitting in one of many restaurants that had a view of the beaches. Flake began a lengthy monologue about upcoming waves of tourist and how much he hated that most of his work during summer consisted of “curing” heatstrokes, pulling out spikes from sea urchins and twisted ankles.

“Why did you decide to live here then?” Paul laughed, “I thought it’s pretty clear what kind of injuries you’d have to deal with here.”

“Well, the locals are quite intelligent, it’s always the tourists that come to me with these things. My work here is interesting, just not during the summer,” Flake paused as he took a sip of his beer, “and what about you? Have you decided if you’re gonna return to Berlin anytime soon?”

Paul’s eyes widened, he didn’t know.

“I- well. Uh,” he desperately looked at Till but the bigger man was just grinning behind his own glass of beer, “I guess I’ll have to return there sooner or later. But the more I think about it the more I know I’ll want to live here, shame I haven’t discovered this place sooner.”

“Then you’re gonna end up like me, huh. I divorced a few years back and moved here, I couldn’t have chosen a better place. Maybe you’ll even find here a new partner, less uptight, you know.”

“Ah, well,” Paul blushed, “I’ve already kind of did. Or more precisely, he found me.”

Flake raised his eyebrows and his smile turned to smirk but didn’t comment on Paul’s statement. He could easily see that the man was embarrassed enough. He looked at Till who merely shrugged and continued to watch their blushing friend.

“Already, huh? Well I heard Till talking to you about some fishboy back there. So, Till doesn’t mind that another fisherman caught you?” Flake cheekily wiggled his eyebrows and Paul wanted nothing more than to be swallowed by the ground. He angrily glared at Till who was trying to hold his laugh but was successfully failing doing so.

“He’s not- He’s not a fisherman, not really a local either,” Paul started. He thought that maybe Flake knew about them too, after all he was the closest friend Till had here before Paul arrived, “He’s one of the-“ Paul stopped as he felt a kick into his shin.  He looked towards Till but the man was drinking his beer, looking straight ahead of him. Behind the glass Paul could see the frown and clenched jaw.

“Not a local? Who’s he?” Flake straightened his glasses and waited.

“Y-yeah. Came here as we did. He, uh, he works as a marine biologist. He had to visit Till a couple of times, that’s about it.”

Paul awaited more dreaded questions but was thankfully saved by the waitress who brought them their food. He dug into his and didn’t dare to raise his head up from his plate, his embarrassment peaking. Paul could feel Till’s stare on him and prayed he didn’t mess anything up. The last few days were a roller coaster of emotions and he couldn’t be responsible about the things he accidentally says.

Fortunately, when they finished their foods Till took over the conversation and completely changed the subject, making Flake forget about Paul’s paramour. They stayed there for a little bit longer, ordering coffees and desserts and then when the time had come, Paul and Till bid goodbye to Flake who had to get back to the hospital for his oncoming shift.

As soon as Flake disappeared behind a building Till turned to the smaller man, “Are you dumb? Did you just almost tell Flake about Richard?”

“I thought he knew about the mermaids! He had to tend to a lot of injuries of yours so I thought you’d tell him him about them.”

“Of course I didn’t! I told you that even Ollie doesn’t know, they’d all thought I’m crazy. Look,” Till sighed and looked around as if he wanted to check for any eavesdroppers, “Nobody knows about the mermaids, okay. Only maybe some old grannies living here, nobody else,” Till clasped Paul’s shoulder and encouragingly squeezed it, “while I’m quite happy you’re not moping around anymore, you just can’t go around telling everyone about your new sea boyfriend, okay?”

“I know, Till,” Paul sighed and continued with their way towards the car. Till made a turn and walked into a narrow passage, which couldn’t have more than two meters in width and walked in front of Paul, “I just thought that he really knew, he looked like he knew about the mermaids.”

A sudden yelp from Paul made Till freeze in his steps, “Did you stumble again you idio-“ he paused as he saw Paul in a vice grip of the man they met a couple of times, a sharp knife pressed to his throat.

“Now, no sudden moves or your friend is gonna have a new breathing hole _right here_ ,” he lightly pressed the blade to Paul’s neck, making the pressure strong enough to make a faint red line right above his adam’s apple.

“Let him go!!” Till bellowed, his voice resonating thanks to the tall walls. He could see Paul’s frantically moving eyes and the panic rising inside of him. He firmly grasped one of the bags which he held; if he is quick enough he could surprise the man and get him off Paul. He looked at the grinning man and waited for the perfect time to strike.

“Put those bags down and kneel for me, will ya? We’re gonna need to use you boys later,” the man grinned as he once again pushed the knife into Paul’s skin.

“Need for what?”

“For the mermaid hunting, you dummy!”

“Till behind you!” Paul managed to scream before the man tightened his grip around him, making him completely immobile.

Till quickly turned around just in time to duck as two other men threw themselves on him. All hell broke loose as Till tried to fight them off and at the same time free Paul from the grasp. He was successful with flinging one of the bags at the abductor, nailing him with a bottle of wine straight in the head and freeing Paul, but while he did that, the two other man caught him, one twisting his arm behind his back and the other kicking him in his stomach. Paul tried to drag the men away from Till, he even managed to kick one of them into their groin but before he could do more his abductor threw him against the nearest wall, knocking all of the air out of him.

Paul tried to turn around and help Till, who was already on his knees, bleeding from his most likely broken nose.

“Till!” Paul screamed before he was grabbed by his throat and smashed once more against the wall.

“That wasn’t very nice of you, guys,” the man was bleeding as well, there was a streak of blood running from his hairline down his left temple, “It could’ve been easier,” he sneered and looked at Till and then nodded, one of the two other Americans knocking him out with a single punch. Paul screamed in agony as he saw his unconscious friend’s body hit the cobble stones. _Where was the police? Anybody?_

Then his captor turned his gaze towards him and tutted, “c’mon, this is your fault. Don’t be such a baby,” he raised his eyebrows and innocently smiled. Paul didn’t know what was gonna happen, he almost believed the man will let him go but then he felt the muscles in his arm flex and suddenly there was a fist flying towards his face.

Then came the dark.


	19. Bait

First thing Paul felt was the horrible pain pulsating in his head. He groaned and tried to open his eyes but even that cost him a lot of energy; he felt like his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets at any moment. He also felt the ongoing swinging of the floor, giving him the impression of a rocking boat. He finally opened his eyes and looked around himself. Immediately he discovered quite a couple of things; he indeed was on a ship, probably somewhere below deck. Another thing he found out was that his hands were tied together and his legs had a chain between them which was bolted to the ground. Paul slowly sat up and ran his tied hands tenderly over his face, he could feel sticky trails of dried up blood and as he went over his lips he knew his lower one was definitely split. With another wave of the boat he felt his stomach rebel. With a painful moan he leaned over a bucket that was next to him and emptied all he could into it. Paul spat saliva out of his mouth when he heard a bitter chuckle near him.

“That was our only source of water, genius,” Paul quickly turned his head which he regretted as the world around him started to spin. When it finally calmed down his eyes focused on the figure to his left; it was no one else but Till, just as chained to the ground and equally beaten up. Scratch that, on closer inspection Paul saw multiple bruises, his shirt torn and bloodied and his arms decorated in gashes. His right eye was barely visible, the skin around it purple and swelled.

“Oh god Till, are you okay?”

“What do you think?”

Paul swallowed another rising bile; he knew that if Till still managed to be sarcastic he still had some strength in him, but the look of him was awful nonetheless.

“I was worried, you’ve been out for some time now. I think,” Till continued.

“What? How long? Where are we? What’s going on?”

“Shh! If they hear us, they’re gonna come down here again!” Till hissed, “to answer your questions; looks like we’ve been kidnapped and I think it has been a day or so, as the sun set and rose again while you were, uh, sleeping,” he tried to wet his lips, but there was nothing in his mouth except for blood, “we’re on a ship, somewhere on the sea. They took me out a couple of times and didn’t bother to put a blindfold on me so I could see a tiny outline of the seashore. But I have no idea which part of the island that was, if it was our island at all,” he coughed as his throat became more irritated.

“But who are these people?!” Paul cried out, never in his life did he imagine himself in this kind of situation, he hoped it was all a bad dream.

Till took a deep breath and was about to answer when they heard heavy footfalls resonating throughout the ship. Soon enough, the door to their tiny room opened and there stood the man again, a cocky smirk decorating his lips.

“Well, well, well, looks like the sleeping beauty is finally awake. I’ve told my friends you don’t need that much of a dose as your friend here but they wanted to be sure. I’m sorry for that,” he had enough cheek to put his hand over his heart and slightly bow, “But now that you’re awake we can finally move on, I hope you’ll cooperate more than Till did.”

He made a few steps forward and Paul scooted as far as he could away from him, before the chains stopped him.

“Who are you people? What do you want from us?!” He desperately shouted.

“Oh, where are my manners. We’ve been sent here by our employer, Mr. Recuenco, who is interested in something you guys were lucky enough to encounter on your own,” he kneeled down and smiled at Paul, though the smile held no warmth, “but otherwise there’s no need for you to know us, yeah?” He patted the smaller man’s shoulder, “now, you’re gonna come with me and help a bit,” he then turned back towards a couple of men that came behind him and nodded, giving them space to manhandle Paul.

They unlocked the bolts on the ground and picked him up by his arms, raising him on his feet. Paul’s head once more spun around, he felt like throwing up again and Till’s raw screaming didn’t help his situation either. The man in question was spitting out all kinds of German curses at the men, mixing it with promises of revenge in English.

Before Paul was hauled out of the room he saw the man take a hold of a metal rod and then only heard the blunt thuds and Till’s painful groans.

He was taken onto the deck as well and his legs were once again bolted to the ground. The sun was low and was shining straight into his eyes, making his headache unbearable. There wasn’t anything to look at anyway; apart from multiple fishing tools, nets and hooks which he presumed weren’t intended for fish, there was nothing interesting to see. The ship was big enough to store quite a lot and made of sturdy metal to withstand all kinds of weather.

“Hey, Jackson, what are we supposed to do with the other guy? Should we kill him?”

Paul’s captor, now identified as Jackson, looked back and thought for a moment and then smirked, “you know what, bring him here as well, maybe we’ll have better results.”

Soon enough, half conscious Till was tied up next to Paul. He had a new bloody streak running down his face and was gently swaying from side to side.

“Now,  you’re gonna tell us where they’re hiding and lead us to your friends,” Jackson sat on a barrel and pretended to study the metal rod, which now was reddened witch spots of blood.

“What are you talking about?! You’re mad!” Paul sobbed as he once again looked at Till who was breathing deeply and looking at the ground.

Their abductor sourly smiled and stood up, slowly walking towards Paul, “don’t play dumb, okay?” He bent down a little bit and then without warning swung the rod, hitting Paul’s side. The force flung Paul to the side on the ground, he screamed in pain and tried to get hold of his chest but wasn’t able to with his hands tied up. His scream alerted Till who screamed back at the man to leave the smaller man be.

“It’s not that difficult to translate what you guys were talking about, even more so when one of ours is able to speak German,” he sneered and pointed the rod towards Till, putting it under his chin and raising it with it, “We heard you talking about the mermaids, we know you met them,” Jackson then turned his face to Paul who was trying to scoot away towards the railing of the ship, “where do you think you’re gonna get, lover-boy? You better start talking.”

“We don’t know anything, you asshole! Leave us be!” Till managed to croak out, spitting out blood.

Another sour smirk was his answer. The man threw the rod to one of his subordinates and took out a huge knife from his thigh holster, “I’ve already had some fun with your friend so I think it only makes sense for you to take his place now,” he turned towards Paul and twirled the knife around, “where are they hiding?”

Paul was hyperventilating, “We don’t kno-!” he was silented by a strong hit by the handle of the knife to one of his temples. Jackson straddled his shaking form and pressed the knife to his collarbones, “Wrong answer!” He dragged the knife across his chest, hard enough to draw blood.

“Leave him be you fucking freak, he knows nothing!” Till screamed, but was silenced by another hit by the rod.

“Look who’s finally talking! Sadly, this shit’s useless to us,” the man turned then back to the smaller man, “Paul, it’s Paul right?” He raised his eyebrows as if he waited for an answer, “Paul, there’s no need to hide anything from us, okay? Our boss knows about the mermaids, we do as well. The only thing is they’re hard to find so we need your help. Let me tell you this; if you help us we might let you live and give you nice, fat sum of cash so you could live your life in peace. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Go fuck yourself with this bullshit!” Till screamed once again and successfully annoyed their abductor. Jackson wordlessly rose to his legs, took a gun from one of his buddies and aimed it at Till.

“Since your buddy woke up we don’t really need you anymore,” he cocked it and put the barrel to Till’s head, “and you’re annoying as fuck.”

“NO! Please don’t!” Paul shouted as he tried to sit on his haunches, “Don’t do anything to him, please!”

“Tell me why I shouldn’t pull the trigger, Paulie.”

“Please, don’t,” the smaller man started to sob, “We’re telling you the truth when we tell you we don’t know where they live! We-I only know one of them, and he always came to me. Killing him won’t solve anything. Please.”

Jackson sighed. Paul thought that he had persuaded the man yet the sound of gunshot knocked the air out of him and made his blood freeze. Till’s scream meant he wasn’t dead, one look at him and Paul saw the bigger man was clutching his right thigh, his pants slowly colouring red.

The man moved quickly towards crying Paul and kneeled in front of him, “your friend’s still alive, so you better come up with better answers or you’re gonna end up both dead.”

He didn’t get any answer, Paul was going into a shock and was close to fainting. His numbness made the mermaid hunter angry, he grabbed Paul by his throat, moved him to the edge of the deck and hissed, “last chance or I’ll throw you overboard and drag you behind the ship as a bait for sharks.”

The smaller man was not able to answer. He watched the golden horizon with tears in his eyes and hoped that everything will end up quickly. He hoped his kids won’t miss their foolish dad. The man behind him sighed once again and moved, Paul didn’t know what was happening, he was pushed onto the railing and his lungs were crushed by the the metal of the ship.

A horrendous scream ripped from his throat as he felt stabbing pain in his thigh. He looked down and saw the point of the knife sticking out of his leg, Jackson had stabbed him from behind, the knife was long enough to go through completely. Blood dripped from his thigh and down his leg, some of it gliding down the blade and then down, straight into the water below him, “nothing says free dinner more than a wounded animal, huh?” The man growled into his ear as he removed the knife from his thigh making Paul scream once more, “Don’t worry, I made sure you’re not gonna die from that. Immediately,” he wiped the blade on his hand and then shook the blood off into the sea as well.

He let Paul go, making the smaller man fall back onto the deck. Through his sobs and moans Paul heaved again, spitting out the last remains of his stomach out. Jackson made a disgusted noise, one of the guys automatically took a hose mounted to the wall and turned it on, spraying the sea water over the deck, washing the puke and blood away. Both men groaned in pain, the salty water got into their wounds and worsened the pain even more.

“You know what. You might be helpful after all. You said that the merman came to you, so maybe if we throw your body down there it might draw them close,” Jackson kneeled in front of Paul once more and grabbed him by his hair, forcing him to look up into his eyes, “Just how lucky you are. We are. A male is double the price, no matter if it’s a faggot or not,” he laughed and let go of Paul’s head.

The smaller man didn’t have any time to catch himself, his head hit the metal floor with a loud thud, making his sight swim again. All he could see anyway was beaten up Till laying a few metres away from him, his injured leg dripping onto the wet floor and trickling down, to the edge of the ship and down the sides. Paul was sure that he himself didn’t look any different.

 They laid there for some time, the sun had almost dipped behind the horizon, the men around them scattered around as their boss gave them orders; some went below deck, some prepared the nets laying around, guns and rifles with darts, no less for the oncoming hunt of mermaids. After some time Jackson has returned and examined the two men laying on the ground and kicked Paul over onto his back, making him groan more.

“Now, enjoy your last moments, Paulie, we’re gonna use you soon enough,” he then looked up,” Prepare the chains boys, we’re gonna hook him up behind the ship.”

The men laughed and a couple of them disappeared towards the back of the ship. Jackson meanwhile bent down and was about to unlock the chains again when Till screamed and with the last strength he had flung himself on the man, “Motherfucker!” Jackson screamed, Till put his tied up hands around his neck and tried to drag him away from Paul. But one nasty jab into his injured leg and he was growling in agony, releasing the man in the process. The mermaid hunter quickly got up and kicked Till into his stomach, “Now you’ve fucked up! We’re gonna make sure you’ll suffer much more than your friend here,” he gave him a couple more kicks before he let him go and finally moved to Paul, “now, where were we.”

He unlocked the chains and raised Paul up, who only managed to moan in pain.

“I’m so sorry, Paul,” Till croaked, as he looked up at Paul. The smaller man was not able to answer, the sight of his beaten up friend broke his heart.

“Come, come,” Jackson tugged on his arm, “I know it’s difficult for you to walk, but I’ll help you, my legs work just fi-“ he couldn’t finish his sentence as there was a loud thud resonating through the ship and then it violently swung, throwing them both off balance.

A complete silence fell onto the ship. The men all looked around, unsure what was happening. Then another thud came and the ship rocked once more, even more violently.

_“What the fuck.”_


	20. Monsters

“What the fuck.”

Once the ship has stopped rocking, Jackson started giving orders as he continued dragging Paul further away from Till. He didn’t get far though, as agonising screams coming from the end of the ship froze the man in his place. They could hear more thuds and then splashing of water.

“What the fuck are they doing back there?” Growled their abductor as he carelessly threw Paul on the ground, signalling one of his men to guard him. Paul moaned in pain, he didn’t know how much more of this he’ll be able to endure. He saw as the other man disappeared behind the bridge and waited for the news.

Only a few seconds have passed when Jackson’s voice boomed across the ship, “they’re here! All men in position!”

Paul’s heart almost stopped. The thuds repeated and metallic scratching could be heard as it resonated throughout the ship. The man guarding him threw him to the nearest wall with a bunch of pipes running down and chained his hands and legs to them. Paul looked at Till who was clumsily getting up from the ground, for a second they made eye contact before the ship shook again and threw both of the men back on the ground.

Meanwhile around them reigned chaos; rifles, nets, spears – all possible hunting tools were thrown around, including barbed wires and other nasty looking stuff. A couple of the men stood at the railing and pointed their guns down, waiting for any sign of their prey. They were shouting commands that Paul had no idea what they meant. It didn’t help that the sun basically set and only the tiniest line of the horizon was coloured in gold. One of the men turned a few switches and then the ship was flooded with white light, which was so bright that Paul could barely see anything from how much it hurt to look around.

Then all hell broke loose. Once the ship rocked for the last time a couple of mermaids jumped out of the water, high enough to grab the railing with one hand and the men at the sides with other. In a blink of an eye they threw them over the railing and back deep into the water, taking them down in one quick sweep. The rest of the men started to immediately fire into the water but were unsuccessful at hitting anything.

“Don’t fire at them you idiots!” screamed Jackson who was returning from the back of the ship. He had blood all over his shirt and was holding his knife that was decorated in the red liquid just as well, “take out the goddamn nets and harpoons! And aim for the tail, not the body!” He looked around and counted his men, knowing that already a few of them were dead.

Another couple of thuds and the ship violently rocked from side to side. When one side was closer to the water, Paul thought his eyes are gonna pop out. A dozen of mermaids jumped from the water, hissing and arms spread wide. He could barely realize what was happening; there was screaming coming from everywhere, gunshot and more agonizing screams. He focused on one of the men who was standing close by him, Paul knew that the guy had keys to his shackles and if he were careful enough he could steal them away from him. So he slowly got up onto his knees and focused only on the man’s belt, if he would look anywhere else he would see a horrible blood bath.

He had the keys on the tips of his fingers when the ship rocked violently again and Paul tripped straight into the man.

“And what the fuck do you think you’re trying to do?” The man shouted as he turned around, he had a dangerously looking harpoon in his hands and was bleeding from his left arm. When Paul focused on the injury he could clearly see that somebody had actually bitten a chunk of his skin off, “You know, we don’t actually need you anymore, so there’s no need for keeping you fucks alive anymore-“ He pointed the harpoon at Paul, precisely at the place where his heart is and prepared to pull the trigger.

Paul couldn’t look away, it took him a moment to realize that the man was knocked down into one of the many wooden boxes that were lying around. Paul could now only see his trashing legs and big tail on him. He was quite surprised, the tail looked like it was black in the artificial light with blood red stripes running across it. It was the same shape Richard had but with completely different colours. He heard a scream and a sickening crack and then the legs stopped trashing. Slowly, his saviour backed of the now corpse; he also had fins at his hips, spread wide, dangerous red tips sticking out among the stretched membranes.

Suddenly his breath was knocked out once more; when the merman backed out of the broken boxes, Paul had the chance of meeting Richard face to face. He looked so different, not only did his tail completely change in colour, his face looked like that one of a feral animal. It was decorated in blood as was the rest of his chest. He was shallowly breathing and looking at his kill.

“R-Richard?” Paul stammered, if he had anything left in his stomach he would most likely throw up again, but there was nothing left.

As the merman heard the familiar voice his whole body tensed up. He looked up and as he saw Paul’s bloody, broken face his frown immediately softened, “I’m here, it’s okay baby,” he cooed as he gently put one of his bloody arms behind Paul’s head and gently stroked his hair, “you’re safe, I’m here for you,” it was unbelievable how soft could Richard sound in such horrible situation.

Paul momentarily felt relaxed, but then he saw as Jackson, now bloodied and limping, was running towards them, his knife firmly gripped in his hand, “Richard behind you!” Paul managed to croak out.

The merman quickly turned around but before he could move away, Jackson jumped down and stabbed the knife into Richard’s tail. The merman screamed and flinched his tail away and then he tried to shove the attacker as far as possible. As Jackson flew away he managed to grab Richard by his hair and flip him around on his back. He yelled in pain and tried to grab Jackson’s hands, but the attacker kept him glued to the ground by his legs and hands, meaning he could not properly attack back. Paul wanted to help the poor merman but he was still shackled to the wall. He saw as Jackson took the closest sharp object, which was a broken piece of wood from the boxes, and sprung his arm in the air, aiming for Richard’s throat.

Then everything happened in slow motion. As Jackson was bringing his weapon down another merman grabbed the man from behind and threw him into the broken boxes. That gave them a few seconds of an open window. Paul watched as the other merman, who was maybe even bigger than Richard, turned to the other merman and looked at his injured tail. He nodded at Richard, his long brown curls momentarily obscuring his vision, and then quickly taking the dagger out. Richard hissed in pain and once again flinched but did nothing else, even though the stab wound started to bleed even more.

“How many of you fuckers are here? Looks like you’ve dragged here your whole fuckin’ school!” came Jackson’s irritated voice as he slowly stood up from the boxes. His whole body was decorated in cuts and bruises and he was profoundly bleeding from his nose, “Which one of you is the faggot that lets his people die so he could save this sad sack of shit?” He nodded towards Paul and then spat blood in his direction.

Richard barred his teeth at that action and in a blink of an eye coiled his tail back and then sprung onto the man. They both fell back, away from the smaller man. The other merman looked at Paul and when he realized that he is more or less okay he moved away, towards the rolling mess of Richard and Jackson. Paul watched in horror the fight; even though the mermen were big and strong, Jackson still managed to keep up, especially when he grabbed a net and threw it at the long-haired merman.

Further behind, Paul could see Till attempting to free himself as well. He had the metal rod in his hands and tried to force open the bolts on the ground. Paul once again then reached out to the corpse which still had the keys of his shackles. He tried not to look towards the man’s face; the rivers of blood were enough for him to know that Richard wasn’t gentle when fighting him. He finally removed the keys with shaking hands and was ready to free himself but a metallic crack and wailing have once again threw him off his balance. The keys slipped from his hand and landed just barely out of his reach and kept sliding towards the side of the ship, where they were swept with another debris into the sea. Paul stared in horror at the place where his keys disappeared, what was he supposed to do now?

The ship was clearly sinking, it was tilted to a side and the sound of water filling up the insides was unmistakable. Paul started to panic; there were still people fighting on the messy deck, injured mermaids and limping mercenaries trying to save themselves from the oncoming disaster. Some men jumped overboard, only to be drowned and mauled by the other mermaids swimming under the ship that were responsible for the sinking. Tugging on the chains, Paul tried to simply tear the chains away, but he was too weak. He couldn’t properly use his stabbed leg and the rest of his body was too weak anyway to set him free. He turned around to see if there was anybody near who could help him, he even tried to scream for help but because of his sore throat only a weak croak came out.

A couple of boxes fell down and obscured his vision from the battlefield. He could only hear the screaming, occasional gunshot and the unstopping rushing of water. Speaking of the water, Paul noticed that the ship has noticeably sunk down, there was already water around him, filling up the last empty spaces. Paul scooped closer to the wall and watched as the water stared to wash over his body and once it was around his ankles, the electricity finally went out. The ship’s lights made last few attempts at working and then shut down completely, flooding the ship in darkness.

With no light to help them the mercenaries stood no chance. They did not count to be so outnumbered and one by one were killed by the sea creatures. If Paul weren’t obscured by the fallen boxes and was not in full panic mode from the rising water he would be able to see that the last man that survived was his own abductor.

Jackson was at the bow of the ship, bloodied, holding his side and standing on the railing. Richard was coiled in front of him, staring the man down with the rest of his kind behind him. The only reason why the mermaids haven’t attacked him was because he was holding his gun and pointing it straight between Richard’s eyes.

“Since when so many of you monsters care so much about two ordinary men, huh?” He screamed in anger, “I was expecting only one, maybe a couple of you to come, not the whole fucking school!”

The mermaids stayed silent. Jackson knew he won’t survive this encounter so his last decision was to hurt as much as possible. He smirked and pulled the trigger, aiming for Richard’s head. His smirk disappeared in a second as the gun only clicked and did nothing more. Just to be sure he pulled the trigger a couple more times but was met with the same results.

“We remember those that help us. And we refuse to let them die,” Richard lowly growled, staring into the scared man’s eyes, “there’s nothing but doom that awaits you,” he continued to stare the man down. Jackson screamed in frustration and tried to fling himself at Richard but the other merman jumped forward, grabbing the abductor and both of them disappearing behind the bow into the deep black water. The man’s screaming stopped immediately when he hit the water, where dozens of other mermaids waited for their final fun.

Meanwhile Paul was still unsuccessfully trying to get rid off the chains. The water was already up to his shoulders and quickly rising. As the ship was sinking, its bow rose up, making the debris and boxes around him move around, some of them floating away, some of them sliding away and sinking too. Just before the water rose to his mouth he could see Till surrounded by two mermaids, helping him get rid of his shackles. A lot of the other creatures were gone already and there was almost nobody who could see him anyway. Nobody except Richard, with whom he made eye contact at the last possible second before his head was swallowed by the sea. Once there was no air to escape the ship it started to fall to the invisible bottom much quicker. Paul outstretched his arms in desperation as much as he could with his bound wrists and hoped that Richard knew he was not free from the ship. Due to the stress the couple of breaths he took were not enough and soon he was at his limit, the corners of his vision turning black. Only then did he recognize a familiar shape coming to him in the dark water.

Richard appeared in front of him, distress written all over his face. As he saw Paul clawing at his throat he didn’t waste a second and connected his lips to his, pushing air into his lungs. He couldn’t give him much as if he stayed longer like that, the ship would get even lower and soon the pressure would be too much for Paul to bear. So with a last breath he backed away and grabbed the pipes on the wall, violently jerking it away from the wall. It took him only a couple of tugs before he tore them away, freeing Paul with the shackles away from the ship. As soon as he knew that Paul was free he reconnected his lips, hugged him tight and slowly made his way up to the surface.

Once they breached, Paul started gasping for air, filling the now calm, quiet sea with his sobs. Richard hugged him even more tightly, whispering into his ear that everything is over and okay. After a few moments Paul raised his head from the crook of Richard’s shoulders to look around; the moon lightly illuminated the water and he could see multiple heads sticking out of the water, all looking at him and Richard.

“Don’t worry, baby, they won’t hurt you. You’re safe,” Richard whispered into his ear and stroked his hair.

“Wh-where’s Till?” Paul croaked out as he once more hid his face into the merman’s neck.

“Two of our girls are already taking him to the shore, let’s get you there as well, before you freeze to death.”

While Richard was warm, Paul could already feel the cold water around him as the adrenaline rush was finally slowly leaving him. More over his body was going numb from the pain caused by the torturing. Paul only weakly nodded and let himself be taken back to the island as well, not daring for a second to weaken his grip around Richard’s shoulders. Before Richard started to move he let Paul go for a second, which freaked the smaller man out, but only to break and untangle Paul from his shackles. Once free, he immediately pushed the smaller man back onto his chest, squeezing him tightly and starting to move towards the shore.

“You’re safe. No more hurting. I promise,” Paul could hear Richard whispering to him, though it sounded like he was trying to reassure himself just as well, “I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Schneider finally made an appearance. I wanted to write him in sooner but didn't know where to, lol


	21. Saved

Paul wasn’t even aware of the journey back to the shore. He knew it took them some time to get there but the numbness he felt weakened all his senses. The only thing he knew about was Richard’s warm body, his tight embrace and his heartbeat. He desperately wanted to close his eyes and rest but everytime Richard felt or saw Paul falling unconscious he roused him back, hands rubbing across his back and murmuring reassuring sweet nothings into his ear.

When they finally reached the shore, Paul noticed they were at some beach, still deserted as it was too soon for anybody to be there. It was still dark, but the horizon all the way back in the east was slowly colouring itself in shades of purple and pink. A couple of mermaids were scattered around, not as many as he saw back at the ship but still enough for Paul. He then saw two mermaids on the beach, laying on the sand and staring at something in front of them. He followed their gaze and saw limping Till, who was moving towards the beach bar. He saw as the bigger man forcibly opened the wooden gate protecting the bar, and then moved right inside, clearly looking for something.

Meanwhile Paul was hoisted up onto the dry land. Richard crawled with him a few metres up and took him once again into his arms, “you’re okay, you’re safe,” he kept repeating as he caressed every possible part of Paul’s body.

Paul stopped the merman in his administrations and grabbed him firmly by his wrists. When Richard looked into Paul’s eyes his own immediately softened. Paul was cupping his jaw, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, “thank you,” he managed to whisper before he leaned in and kissed Richard, desperately needing to feel the merman’s lips on his own.

“I’ve got you, Paulchen. I’ve got you,” Richard mumbled into his lips, snaking his arms around the smaller man and pushing him onto his body.

They were interrupted by Till’s desperate voice. Paul saw that the man managed to find a working phone, toghether with a few clean napkins and a bottle of clear substance, which could only be some kind of alcohol.

“I don’t fucking care it’s four in the morning! We need your help Flake!”

A pause and then Till began to speak once more.

“I can’t tell you why, just please come here. I’m injured and so is Paul.”

Another pause.

“Ollie’s with you? Good. He can come with you. Now get your ass over here before we bleed to death,” Till ended the phone call and put the phone into his pocket. He managed only to take a couple of steps before he collapsed onto the ground, weakly moaning.

Paul gasped and immediately started to crawl to his friend. Richard was right next to him, not daring to let anyone get closer to the smaller man. The two mermaids made their way to Till as well, turning him onto his back and grabing the napkins from his hands. Both of them started to bandage Till up as best they could and as soon as Paul got to Till one of them wanted to do the same to Paul.

Richard angrilly growled, moving between the girl and Paul, pushing his chest out and glaring back at her.

“I just want to help him, Richard. He’s clearly injured as well.”

“No. Touching.” Richard spat as he took all he could from the mermaid and turned back to Paul.

Paul stared at him, not understanding the merman’s possesive behaviour. Richard began to gently sweep dried up blood from the smaller man’s face, not really realizing that he was not doing anything helpful. He kept stroking Paul’s back and kept himself between Paul and the other mermaids. Paul then weakly grabbed Richard by his hips and hoisted himself up into a sitting position and looked at Till. The bigger man was laying on his back, one hand over his eyes and the other holding bandages over his right thigh.

“Till?”

“Yeah?”

“You alive?”

“Yeah.”

Paul bitterly laughed, stress turning his laugh into sobs. He tried to move closer to his friend and help him but Richard stopped him, a frown appearing on his face.

“No moving. You’re hurt.”

“I just want to see he’s okay, Reesh.”

“You can clearly see he lives, now don’t move,” Richard moved higher and obscured Paul’s vision. He took one of the cloths and gently started to take care of the smaller man’s wounded leg.

“Richard? What are you doing?”

“Don’t move, liebling. You’re hurt,” Richard stubbornly whispered into his ear.

No matter what Paul tried to do, Richard had always shooed him away, curling around him and protecting him from the outer world. What Paul managed to see was the two mermaids taking care of Till, who was now sitting as well, a couple of mermaids in the shallow waters tending to each other and the other merman swimming among them, asking every single one if they’re okay. Once he was done with everyone he moved closer to the shore, making his way towards the two injured men.

As he was making his way onto the beach, a car engine could be heard nearby. All the mermaids simultaniously flinched and looked with horror at the car. Some of them plunged under the water in fear. Richard, the other merman and the two girls stayed on the dry land, the rest peeking out from the water. They could hear as the car stopped, the opening and closing of doors and hushed voices right behind a couple of bushes.

“Don’t worry, they’re here to help us, you can trust them,” Paul heard Till croak out as he turned around, looking at an opening in the bushes.

Soon enough, bickering Ollie and Flake emerged, deep in conversation and not looking in front of them.

“Took you guys long enough,” Till said and managed to weakly smirk.

As both of them looked towards Till’s voice they froze in their place, dropping the duffel bags they were carrying. Flake rubbed his eyes under his glasses and Ollie opened his mouth yet not a single word escaped it.

“Yeah I know. We can explain later, now please help us before we die here,” Till once again collapsed onto the ground, clearly at the end of his strength.

Both of the men kept standing in their places and did not dare to make a single move.

“Guys please,” Till weakly moaned.

Flake managed to shake off the intial shock and moved towards Till, kneeling next to the injured man and opening one of the bags he brought with him. The light was still weak so he picked up his phone, turned on the flash and then with a pause and a warry look gave it to one of the mermaids, “Just- just hold it above him, I’ll need the light.”

Flake set to work immediately, first thing he said was that he wanted to transfer Till and Paul to the hospital but Till vehemently refused and then with a sour smirk added, “good luck getting close to Paul.”

The doctor raised one of his eyebrows and looked behind himself; he watched as Ollie slowly approached Paul but was stopped in his tracks as Richard once again blocked the way.

“Richard, let Ollie be, he’s here to help,” Paul whispered as he put one of his arms around the merman’s shoulders and massaging the back of his neck, “you know him. You’ve watched him, right? He’s my friend and he’s here to help.”

Oliver watched as the merman switched his gaze from Paul to him and the look he gave him could scare off even the toughest of men. The tall man nervously swallowed and then slowly kneeled next to Paul who managed to give him a weak smile.

“You have a lot of explainig to do,” Oliver returned the smile as he started to check Paul and his injuries. Oliver wasn’t a doctor but he run his shop on the beach long enough to see a couple of people get injured in the weirdest way, resulting in him needing to tend to the people before help arrived. He saw that Richard was pressing down on Paul’s leg, “What’s happened?”

“Got stabbed, thankfully not through anything important. I think,” Paul hissed as Olli tended to one of his many cuts. As Richard saw the pained expression he growled and moved over Paul and was ready to shove the tall man’s hand away but Paul stopped him, grabbing him by his wrist and slowly pushing him down to his place, “It’s okay, Reesh. He’s helping, remember.”

Oliver stopped for a while and looked at the merman, who was already glaring at him, “Who’s your friend?” He asked as he slowly got back to his work.

“That’s uh, Richard. He’s the reason I’m still alive,” Paul gritted his teeth once more and then smiled, leaning in for a quick kiss.

Oliver raised his eyebrow at the action and then sighed, focusing on his work again, “then tell him to stop staring at me. I cannot focus.”

Paul smiled, “See? Let the man work and stop worrying about me.”

The merman sneered, moved closer to Paul and started nuzzling his neck instead. Oliver then managed to clear and bandage all the cuts he could and then looked over at Flake who was in the process of stiching up Till’s wound. Till was clearly under local anesthetics, his head in the  lap of one of the girls while the other one helped Flake with the wounds. As soon as he was done he stood up and wordlessly exchanged with Oliver.

As both men were on their feet the other merman, who was watching them all the time, moved closer to Till, inspecting the girls themselves. Till looked up and smiled, observing the merman, “don’t worry _Doomie_ , they’re fine. Not so sure about your other friend though,” He nodded to Richard.

“I beg your pardon?” The merman cocked his head, curls cascading to one side.

“I heard Richard’s little monologue before taking down Jackson, you literally being his doom. I like it.”

The merman listened to him and slowly smiled, liking the idea, “then Doom it is,” He then looked at the girl who was craddling Till and after short inspection turned around, rolling towards Richard. He didn’t speak, just gently laid his hand on Richard’s shoulder, who was still nuzzled into Paul’s neck and only glimpsed towards _Doom_. The merman started  to inspect him just as well. He slowly moved his hand down his arms, then over his chest and down his sides. Paul watched in interest as the the other merman looked over Richard’s body, slowly getting lower and lower and then stopping at his stab wound.

“Here,” he murmured as he squeezed Richard’s tail, making him flinch. Doom then looked at Flake who was in the middle of removing Paul’s shorts.

“Yeah, just a minute, Paul needs the help more.”

“He’s right, I’m okay,” Richard mumbled as he angrily stared at Paul’s bloodied thigh. When he wanted to caress it he was quickly slapped away by glaring Flake. The merman looked offended at the gesture but Paul’s hand once again stopped him from pushing the doctor away.

Flake snorted at the exchange and cleaned the wound, readying it for the oncoming procedure, “I guess this is that marine biologist of yours, huh?”

Paul sheepishly smiled and nodded, tightly squeezing Richard’s hand.

…

It took them some time but when the sun was finally high enough for them to see, the doctor was done with the most serious of wounds. After he was satisfied enough with Till and Paul he moved onto Richard, doing as much as he could. He could not stich him up, as the scales on his tail were incredibly tough, though he tried to at least clean him up. Then after a short conversation with Doom he moved to other mermaids, helping where he could.

While he was doing so Paul, now bandaged up, laid on Richard’s chest, idly playing with his the merman’s hands. He was numbed by the medication Flake gave him and also the overall tiredness that finally arrived was making him drownsy. He focused beyond their intertwined arms and onto Richard’s tail. It was still black, red stripes decorating it across the whole length. He moved his hands down and slowly stroked across the scales on his tail, which was protectively curled around him.

“What’s happened to you?”

“Hmm?”

“Your tail used to be colourful, not like this,” Paul looked up into Richard’s eyes.

“I-well-“

“Over-protectiveness,” one of the girls said, “everytime one of us gets extremely provoked and angry, the blood rushes towards the scales,” she smiled as she stroked Till’s hair, who was peacefully sleeping, “doesn’t happen that often though, you must be really lucky. Why’s that, _Richard?_ ” She looked at the merman, deliberately using his chosen name.

The merman grumbled and looked into Paul’s eyes, “He’s mine. Paul belongs only to me.”

“Yours? He’s your mate?”

“Yes.”

“You know that the elders prohibit relationships with humans,” She raised her eyebrows at him, “especially when he can’t give us any _little ones_.”

“Yeah, yeah. I have a duty to the clan,” Richard sighed and squeezed Paul in his arms, “I don’t care. I have him and no one else.”

“Your mate, huh?” Paul smiled at him, digging his fingers into the merman’s hair.

“Yes. And I’m yours,” Richard whispered as he lowered his head, peppering Paul’s lips with gentle kisses, “I love you, baby, and I’m so happy you’re alive. You have no idea,” he whispered into Paul’s lips, kissing him once more.

“I love you too.”

An awkward cough interupted them. They both looked up and saw the girls, Oliver and Doom watching them, all of them donning different expressions.

“You still owe me an explanation, Paul,” Oliver smiled as he looked around, “I’m still considering this is some kind of a weird dream and I’m actually laying passed out on Flake’s floor.”

Paul let out a chuckle before deeply sighing, “to be honest I’m not sure how this all happened myself. One day I was teaching a curious merman how to play the guitar and suddenly I was seduced. He just refused to leave me be.”

“And what about the woman you started to see here?”

“A woman?” Richard alarmingly perked up.

“Ah,” Paul chuckled and then winced as pain shot up his chest, “a lie I had made up before all this was busted open by Till.”

“Okay, now it is starting to make sense,” Ollie said as he looked around, “and the others?”

“I have no idea. Reesh had to persuade them somehow.”

“He really didn’t have to,” Doom started, “As soon as he smelled your blood in the water he went completely crazy. It didn’t take him long to persuade the girls, they were afterall saved by Till when the last raid happened. The rest of us joined because we wouldn’t let a male foolishly die and if it ment taking down another batch of poachers, the better.”

Flake joined them as Doom was agetting to the end of his explanation. He looked rather tired but satisfied. He nodded at Oliver who then moved closer to Till and gently shook him to wake him up.

“I still insist on you two going to the hospital for an x-ray. You guys were hit multiple times and your ribs could not just be bruised, a crack is a crack.”

“No hospital, we’ll be fine,” Till sleepily grunted as he was helped into a sitting position. He then slowly got up and leaned on waiting Oliver, “just get us back home and stay there with us for couple of days, yeah?”

Flake rolled his eyes, he knew he won’t be able to persuade him. He then looked at Paul and offered him a hand but was once again stopped by Richard, who moved between them.

“He stays,” he growled and refused to look at anybody but Paul.

“He stays, he dies. He’s far from being okay. It’s a miracle they’re still conscious,” Flake deadpanned.

“No. He stays here with me,” he once again growled, spreading his hip fins wide as if he tried to intimidate the doctor.

“Richard, I need to go,” Paul whispered into his ear, leaving a kiss under it, “you can come to the fishery and stay there at the shore. We’ll make it possible for you to know as much as possible, okay?”

“Paul! I won’t let you go! What if someone is waiting for you there? I can’t help you on the dry land!”

“I’ll be well protected. Don’t worry, baby, I’ll be okay and soon well enough to swim with you again,” Paul smiled, hoping the merman won’t try to stop him anymore.

“I-well, fine. You better heal fast and rest well, or I swear I will crawl out of the sea to get you,” Richard took Paul’s head into his hands and looked into his eyes, deeply kissing him.

“Don’t worry,” Paul whispered among the kisses, “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you guys done?” Flake’s disgusted voice interrupted the relative silence. Paul gave one last lingering kiss and then extended his arms and was slowly pulled up by the doctor. Richard stroked Paul’s leg, prolonging their contact as much as possible.

“I hope we’re clear that if a word about us gets out, you’re the first ones that’ll die,” Doom moved around, staring at the four humans.

“Yeah, don’t worry, we won’t say anything,” Till nodded and  then turned with Ollie, making their way up the beach. Flake looked at Paul, waiting for him to move; the smaller man squeezed Richard’s hand for the last time and turned around just as well.

“Take care, love,” the merman put on a brave smile and watched with the rest of the mermaids as the four men slowly made their way to the bushes, where Ollie’s car was hidden. Before they disappeared behind it, Paul turned around and weakly waved goodbye towards the mermaids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm no doctor and was too lazy to make a proper research so if it looks unrealistic, just kinda ingore it ^.^"
> 
> Also, The story is slowly getting to its end, though I might write some short sequel to it later :)
> 
> Thank you all for reading!


	22. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is going to be an epilouge - but while this story is ending I already have a couple of ideas that I will maybe publish later, separately :)

When Paul woke up, he felt uncomfortable pain in every inch of his body. His body was healing and it let Paul know how difficult it was. The first three days he spent barely conscious; Flake made sure both him and Till were properly resting, threatening the bigger man to tie him to his bed if he was forced to. Now that he was so full of painkillers, Paul slowly started to remember and recollect everything that has happened, it all still felt like a hazy dream, yet the wounds were telling him otherwise. His heart began to race frantically when he remembered it all; the kidnapping, the torture, the mermaids attacking, and the sinking of the ship. It took him a couple of moments to calm down, it was especially easier once he heard the bickering of Flake and Till. The voices were coming from Till’s bedroom, Till was probably wanting to get out of the cottage and do something “productive”.

Paul smiled at their exchange and slowly got out of his bed, wincing slightly. He took the crutches Flake forced him to use and slowly moved out of his room, heading to the kitchen. When he arrived there, he saw Oliver cooking something, whistling to himself in tune with the radio. When he heard the clinks of Paul’s crutches he looked around, a smile decorating his surprised face.

“Well look who’s back from the dead. Flake didn’t try to force you to stay in bed?”

“He’s in Till’s room right now, so I ran away before he could get to me,” Paul smiled back and hungrily eyed Oliver’s plate. After all, he barely ate and the sweet smell of freshly fried pancakes was making his stomach rumble.

He didn’t have to say a thing and Oliver was already giving him the plate, then pouring more of the batter on the heated pan. Paul sat down at the table and didn’t waste a second in devouring his breakfast. When Oliver put a cup of coffee in front of him he grinned, his full cheeks making him look like an  overjoyed hamster. After swallowing the bite he almost cried in happiness, “Oh, Ollie you’re the best, I love you.”

“I know. But save _those_ words for someone else,” Ollie chuckled and nodded his head toward the sea.

Paul slowed down in his eating, immediately trying to look out of the window, “he’s here?”

“Not right now. But he came here every morning and every night, jumping onto the pier and waiting.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because you were really weak and Flake forbid it, he even tried to shoo, uh, _Richard_ away. That was hilarious.”

“Oh,” Paul sighed and after a moment of deciding, he stood up.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Oliver asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Outside, I’m sure he’ll come here sooner or later.”

“No you’re not. You can barely drag yourself into the kitchen without fainting. And if Flake saw you outside he’d kill me and then you.”

“But-!”

“No buts, if you want to see him then we’ll find some other way, okay?”

“Fine,” Paul sat down puffing his cheeks. He picked up his fork again, ready to get back to his meal when he looked back at Oliver, “You look suspiciously calm concerning what has happened.”

“Well, I had my time to freak out when you guys were passed out,” he smiled, setting his own plate on the table, “and Till told us of what’s happened. More or less. But still, you owe me an explanation. No one just ends up with a mermaid.”

“Merman.”

“Merman, yeah. So tell me, how did this all happened? And I don’t mean the accident, I mean how did you get to know Richard?”

Paul looked down onto his half empty plate and shuffled the food around, smiling faintly, “Let’s just say the first time I saw Richard I almost had a heart attack…”

He then began telling Oliver everything he knew and what happened, reminding him of the time they met in the pub and how he returned with a wet shirt or the real reason why he wanted to go diving alone. Of course he did not tell him everything, the tall man did not need to know every single bit of his unusual love life. When he was at the end of it, describing how he found himself trapped on an unknown ship with a dozen angry mermaids, he heard a cough behind him.

“We know about that part already, no need for you to tell it again, it’s not pretty after all,” Flake emerged into the kitchen and grabbed his own cup of coffee, “how are you by the way? You know you should stay in bed and rest, we could’ve brought the food to you.”

“I’m good, thanks. And if I stayed a moment longer in there I’d go crazy, I had to go somewhere, _anywhere_. How long have you been standing there anyway?”

“Long enough for you not needing to tell the story twice. And fine, but after you’re done here you’re going straight back to bed.”

Paul knew that if Till couldn’t win an argument with Flake, he won’t persuade him either. He thought that maybe if he’ll appear as the wise one, he’ll have freedom sooner. So Paul nodded, swallowing the last bits of his pancakes, “thanks, Ollie, they were great.”

“Hurry up, finish your coffee and then I’ll look at your wounds and change the bandages.”

“Yes, mother,” Paul smiled into his cup and drank the rest of it, “but before I’ll be locked up back in my room I want to know how am I supposed to contact Richard? I promised him I will come to him as soon as possible and I don’t want to be woken up by the news that he really crawled up here to the cottage,” he looked at Oliver expectantly.

“Don’t worry, Paul. I’ll think of something, now get back to your bed.”

Paul rolled his eyes, slowly raised himself up and after getting his crutches he moved with Flake’s help back to his room. At his way back he stopped at Till’s room, wanting to see him. When he got there he saw that the man was sitting in his bed, a pair of glasses sitting on his nose and a notebook in his hands. Flake gave them a couple of minutes to talk and waited for Paul in his room.

Both of the men had a chance to talk before, they both stayed that time tightly embraced, happy that they both survived. Now they just checked each other’s injuries, Till of course was complaining that Flake doesn’t want to let him go anywhere - the furthest he was, was his bathroom. Paul lightly patted Till on his leg and told him to be strong, and then promised him he’ll take him to the fanciest pub and both will get drunk as a reward for protecting him.

In the next hour Flake took care of Paul, thoroughly inspecting every single cut and bruise, finishing at his stab wound, which he once more cleaned and freshly bandaged. He left Paul after giving him his own notebook and a couple of books, saying he should entertain himself.

…

Paul woke up sometime in the evening. He fell asleep after Flake gave him more pills to swallow and now he felt dizzy. A set of knocking on his door woke him up completely. After a moment or two, the door slowly opened and revealed smiling Oliver.

“Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah,” Paul yawned, “what’s going on?”

“You’ll see,” the tall man said with a mischievous smirk and padded over, taking Paul’s notebook and opening it.

“What’re you doing?” Paul asked as he sat up in his bed, fluffing the pillow behind him.

“Shh, just a second,” Oliver worked on it and when Paul moved a bit closer he saw that he was calling someone on Skype. Before he could ask any more questions, Flake appeared on the screen, clearly standing somewhere outside, “Yes! It’s working!” Oliver cheered and then handed the notebook to Paul, “here you go,” he stood up and left the room.

Paul looked questioningly at the screen; Flake was not there anymore, he could just hear his voice as he gave somebody instructions. His heart skipped a beat when the notebook was put down onto the pier in front of the cottage and he could see no one else but Richard, curiously staring at the screen.

“Paul?” he moved a bit closer, focusing on the smaller man’s face on his screen. Paul could hear Flake’s voice as he once more repeated that he should not touch it with his wet fingers, actually not to touch it at all and leave it be.

Paul laughed and smiled, “Yes, Reesh, it’s me. I’m locked up in my room, but we can at least talk to each other like this.”

The merman’s confusion changed immediately into a face of adoration upon hearing Paul’s voice, “Paul!” he once again gripped the notebook by its sides, pulling it closer to himself.

“You have to keep it further away from you,” Paul laughed, “I can see you thanks to that black dot above the screen, just imagine that’s where my eyes are.”

“Black dot?” the merman scooped away and then looked into the camera. When he saw Paul smile, his own face brightened even more, “I’m so glad to hear you, baby. How are you?”

“Better, it still hurts to move around but it’s definitively getting better. How are you, are your people okay?”

“I’m fine, we all are. Flake told me you’ve been sleeping through the past three days, how long do you think you’ll have to be locked up there?” It was almost adorable how desperate Richard sounded, “I just miss you and want to take care of you myself.”

“It’s gonna take some time Richard, I think Flake won’t let me go until everything is healed, including the stab, which will take some time,” he could see the distress in Richard’s eyes, “but don’t worry, as soon as I am able to walk better I will come out, and spend my time out, okay? Swimming or, uh, any other activities will have to wait but at least we will be together,” Paul paused; oh how he wished to be outside, he almost felt embarrassed how he craved Richard’s touch, “Oliver told me you came here before?”

“Yeah, I did. I could not bear to be far away, I needed to know if I could help in any way. I needed to be close to you.”

“That is so sweet of you, thank you,” Paul smiled and unconsciously run his fingertips over the screen, stroking Richard’s face.

“What else was I supposed to do? I need you, Paul. I want you here with me.”

“You have to be patient, okay? At least you can sort it out with your people and I can finally solve my own problems. I think it’s time.”

“There’s nothing to sort out. They know you’re mine and that I’m not leaving you. Doom, as he likes to call himself now, was here with me a couple of times and we spoke. He doesn’t like it but he will leave me be, at least for now.”

“Is he your leader or something?” Paul asked.

“No, not really. He’s older so he has automatically more authority and the elders trust him more. He’s… He’s also one of the few people I’ve spent more time with, as I’ve told you long ago.”

“What?!”

“It’s not important anymore, Paul. He agreed to let us be,” Richard rolled his eyes and then smiled into the camera, “The mermaids now know not to hurt any of you and in exchange Flake and Oliver swore that they will keep us secret.”

“Okay, okay. I trust you,” Paul smiled back and then cocked his eyebrow, “how did they persuade you to use Skype anyway?”

“You mean this thing?” the merman tapped his camera, obscuring Paul’s screen for a moment, “Oliver said you’re still not able to come here but that he has a solution. So here I am, talking into this device and seeing you,” he then picked the notebook up and moved it a bit around for Paul to see better. The sun was already setting but it was still high enough for Paul to see that Richard laid on the pier on his belly, tail outstretched and the notebook in front of him. He could also see that Richard’s tail was no longer dark, it was thankfully back to its full colourfulness.

“Good. Get used to it, we won’t have any other choice,” Paul yawned, he was still feeling sleepy.

“I’ll try.”

…

Even though Paul felt tired they continued talking long into the night and had to stop only when Flake came into his room, forcing him to finish the video call. Paul had to repeatedly promise he will see Richard next day again, Oliver will make sure the notebook will be fully charged and prepared for him at the pier.

These conversations did actually turn into a routine. As Paul couldn’t really move, he spent most of his days in his bed or in the living room, either writing emails back home and making phone calls or chatting with the merman. They all found it hilarious, especially when Doom came back and out of curiosity wanted to try the strange device himself, almost dragging it back into the water. It distracted Paul from the bitter reality of his “past” life; he was able to communicate back home and prepare a swift divorce. He knew he had to get back to Berlin eventually and sort it out personally, though he knew he still won’t be able to travel anywhere for the next few weeks. He sorted out what he could and what he couldn’t, he made appointments back at Berlin.

He busied himself with this work and before he realised, a month had gone by and he was able to walk again, though with a small limp. Flake advised him to exercise regularly and Richard was more than willing to help him with a careful hydrotherapy.

After one of these workouts, Paul finally told Richard about his plan. Richard sucked in a deep breath, his brow furrowed and he looked like he was about to drag Paul into the ocean.

“You can’t leave! Especially not after what has happened, what if there are more people like those guys?” they were both laying on their backs on the beach but Richard heard Paul speak, he raised himself up and rested his arms around Paul’s head, obscuring his vision, “it’s so far away, none of us will be able to help you there.”

“Richard, relax. The only people that will annoy me there are the lawyers. I have to go there, I haven’t seen my kids in months and I have to deal with my marriage. Don’t forget that I’m technically still married, not for long though, but still.”

“What If I come there with you?”

“How?” Paul genuinely laughed, raising his arms to stroke Richard’s cheeks, “It took me hours to get here by plane and moreover, you’d have to swim up a dirty river into a dirty, cold city where you wouldn’t see me anyway. We can talk to each other through the notebooks, alright? And I’ll try to get back as soon as possible.”

“I- I don’t like this,” the merman lowered himself, nuzzling his face into Paul’s neck.

“I know, Reesh, but it’s the only and quickest way. After that I’ll be always here, living with Till. He agreed I’m bearable enough to live with, especially when I hinted that you’re a great helper when it comes to fishing,” Paul took Richard’s face in his hands and moved him closer, gently kissing his lips.

“Okay, I hope it won’t take long. I’ll miss you,” Richard said between the kisses as he pressed his weight onto Paul’s chest. Not much, as he knew Paul still wasn’t completely back to his full health, “I love you.”

“I love you too. Thank you, Richard, for everything,” he kissed him once more and then embraced him, inhaling the merman’s scent.

…

Three days later Paul stood on the porch, his bags packed, laying by his legs. He was sipping his early morning coffee and waiting for his taxi, which was supposed to take him to the airport. As he took his last sips he heard the engine of the car and its honking, signalling its arrival.

Till was outside as well, he patted Paul’s shoulders and sighed, “get to the pier, I’ll take your bags to the car. Five minutes, not more, alright?”

“Thank you, Till.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the best, I know.”

Paul knew Richard was waiting for him there. Even though he promised not to freak out, the merman was still emotional and Paul once again had to remind him not to hug him too tightly, he couldn’t travel with wet clothes. Richard kissed the living daylights out of him, repeatedly whispering how much he’s gonna miss the man. Paul said the same to him, asked the merman to be strong for the last time, kissed his forehead and rose to his feet. He slowly let go of Richard’s hand and turned around, heading for the taxi. He hasn’t left the fishery yet and he was already eager to get back, finally free and careless. He waved his final goodbye to his lover and disappeared behind the cottage to the awaiting car.


	23. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it. I'd like to thank everybody for reading this story of mine and I'd like to especially thank everyone who kept leaving the comments, you guys were fantastic and helped me a lot! :)  
> It's quite funny as I've never imagined the story to be this long, yet here we are~  
> Once more, thank you guys for reading and enjoy the last chapter!

“… and if I'd’ve continued this way, I would have come back to the Brandenburg Gate. But you saw that already,” Paul murmured into the mic connected to his earphones. He had the phone camera pointed at his face and the rest of the Tiergarten behind him, “I’ll have to wait here though, my son should arrive any minute now and then we’ll go for a lunch.”

A familiar face smiled on his screen, curiously looking behind Paul at the greenness of the park, “will you show him to me? I’d like to see him.”

“I’ve already sent you the pictures and Till confirmed that you saw them.”

It’s been a month since Paul arrived to Berlin; he was almost done with the divorce, now waiting for the final results and paper work. He spent his time in the city by setting up the transfer of some of his stuff to Till, showing through video calls Berlin to the merman and going out with his kids. He missed them and wanted to take the advantage of them having summer holiday, so Paul took them wherever he could. He eventually had to explain to them that he’s leaving to live abroad, though both of the kids are welcome to come there anytime. He knew he couldn’t force them to live there with him; the daughter was too young and his son already had his life sorted out in Berlin, it would be too cruel to take them to an island that barely had any schools and entertainment at all. Paul didn’t tell them about the mermaids, he knew he’d sound like a fool and would be afraid that the kids wouldn’t be able to hold it a secret.

Paul agreed with his soon to be ex-wife that he’ll let her have basically anything they own in Berlin, from their house to their car and the only thing he demanded was no restriction of taking care of his daughter. When he delivered the news to Richard the merman was delighted and ushered Paul to take his kids with him to the island as he wanted to meet them. Paul laughed at his demands and promised him that while he won’t be able to do that immediately, he will introduce them, when the time is right. He had to remind the merman that the divorce itself is no pretty matter and telling the children that their dad is already seeing someone else would only make it nastier.

Meanwhile, Richard told the man everything that was happening back at the fishery, which wasn’t much but still, Paul was happy to hear that the merman wasn’t just somewhere laying depressed and alone. Richard was proud to announce that he and Till started to work together, catching fish and setting up traps with the merman was much easier and Till was more than happy with the results. From time to time Doom appeared as well, Richard described it to Paul as that the merman wanted to see if everything is okay and that Till and his friends are keeping their words about the secrecy, though Richard knew that Doom was curious just as he was, when he first saw Till and then Paul working at the fishery.

The lunch he was about to have with his kids was his last one, Paul had already bought his ticket, packed the last of his stuff and was ready to leave. He wanted to do so as his son’s summer camp was starting the oncoming weekend and his daughter was about to leave with her grandparents on a holiday. He promised his children that before their school will start he will try to arrange a week or two at the fishery, where they could spent the last of their free time together with him. Paul spent the rest of the afternoon with them as well, buying them whatever they wanted and went with them wherever they wanted just so he could enjoy their presence as much as possible.

A few days later, Paul was finally free. He had enough time to say good bye to his local friends, go pubbing with them and then to take a walk across the city alone. Paul was a Berliner; he was born and raised in Berlin and wanted to see the city for the last time before he leaves for good. He spent his last day there wandering for hours across the parks and squares, taking the U-Bahn wherever he wanted until it was dark and he could barely walk. He got home, slept in his bed for the last time, already dreaming of the sea and his lover.

When he woke up the next morning he felt like a kid going to the school for the first time. Paul felt nervous, yet excited; his new life was about to begin. He barely ate and called the taxi that should take to the airport an hour earlier, just so he could get out and move. Once he got to the airport, Paul zoned out; even though he tried to read books or offered magazines, his eyes just skidded over the pages and he could not remember a single word from them. In the end Paul fell asleep when his plane took off and was woken up by one of the hostesses right before the touch down.

After waiting for his luggage, Paul walked out an hour later, patiently looking around. Among the few taxis and buses he noticed a van and a very familiar tall man leaning on it.

“Ollie!”

“Paul! Good to see you again!” Oliver smiled and ran up to the smaller man, hugging him.

“Good to see you too, you have no idea how happy I’m to be back,” Paul squeezed the man back and then let himself be helped with his bags.

“How was the flight? All good?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve slept through it so it literally passed in a blink of an eye.”

“Hah. That’s good then,” Ollie laughed as he put Paul’s bags into the trunk, closing the door and ushering Paul to the passenger’s seat, “to Till’s? Or do you want to stop somewhere?”

“Nope, straight back to the fishery, please. I was away long enough.”

“The fishery it is,” Oliver said with a smile, ignited the engine and moved onto the road.

They’ve spent the journey there talking, Oliver was of course curious how Paul managed to settle his life in Berlin, how the city looked now and how was Paul feeling. The smaller man told him everything he could and knew, not sparing a single detail. In return, Oliver then told him about the life back on the island, though he knew that the merman had probably told Paul everything. Still, he described how Till had to start expanding and reconstructing part of the fishery as it was getting too small for his new catches, how the mermaids visited Till more often, eager to help and discover new things. Apparently, it wasn’t just Richard but also Doom and the girls who visited them, always bringing something valuable fished out of the depths as a peace offering.

Paul laughed at the news, he wasn’t surprised the mermaids had repeatedly come to Till, no matter how much intimidating they tried to appear, if they were at least a tiny bit like Richard, he knew that their curiosity would take over. He was happy to hear that they decided to work with Till, at least the income won’t be too small for both of them. As he tried to imagine how much the place has changed, Paul looked out of the window and watched the barren hills passing by at one side, the other showing the unending waters down, below them. The first time he saw the nature on the island he felt depressed but as he saw it now, he could not have been happier. He knew he’s getting close to his new home and was more than eager to settle down.

The last fifteen minutes were stretching out and felt like eternity. Paul vibrated with excitement and urged Oliver to go quicker – the surroundings were now familiar and he felt as if he never left the place.

When the fishery finally came into view Paul gasped in pleasant surprise. Not only was he back, it also looked like Till build a new fence around it and cleaned around, giving it a real homely feeling. Oliver laughed at his reaction and pulled the car inside, stopping right in front of the cottage. Paul jumped outside the car and inhaled deeply, grinning like a child. He picked up the bags that Ollie took out of his car and rushed inside, eager to find Till.

He found the man sitting in the living room, chatting with no one else but Flake.

“Well, look who’s back!” Flake smiled into his coffee as Till jumped out of his chair, catching the smaller man in a bear hug. After almost suffocating the poor man, Till let Paul go to hug Flake as well, gently patting him on his back.

Before Paul could take a breath he was already sitting on the sofa, surrounded by the men, a beer in his hand and the others cheering to his return. He happily joined, clinking the cold beverage together with others and taking a long, deserved swing. Inevitably, he had to repeat everything he told Oliver as both Flake and Till were interested in his current life.

One beer turned into two, which turned into another two and soon the men were laughing, each talking about their past lives before they moved to the island. Till threw an arm around Paul, who was smiling, looking down his bottle, and squeezed him.

“Well, welcome to our club. Let me tell you there’s not a better place to restart your life!”

“I know, Till,” Paul smirked at the man, “my soul has settled here long before I knew it,” he paused, “and apparently so did my heart.”

Till grinned and squeezed his friend once more, while Flake rolled his eyes and Ollie tried to withhold his laughing.

“That reminds me, before you disappear to find your boyfriend, the stuff you sent me is already in your room or scattered around. No need to worry about it, okay?”  Till picked up the empty bottles and took them to the kitchen, “I’m quite surprised you’ve managed to stay with us this long. I thought you’re gonna disappear after the first beer.”

Paul blushed, “I didn’t want to be rude. I missed you guys as well.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know. But it wasn’t us who you spent hours with on Skype,” Flake nudged Paul with his foot and smirked at his embarrassment, “It’ getting late anyway, so we’ll go. I have an early shift tomorrow and since the holiday season began Ollie has to be at his work early just as well.”

“He’s right,” Oliver stood up and patted Paul’s shoulder, “we’re gonna see each other soon enough.”

And so they bid each other good bye and just as the guys left, Paul went straight to the porch, looking over at the sea. Till soon joined him, lighting a cigarette.

“He should be here soon enough, you know he always came in the evening to talk to you when you were gone,” he took a drag and exhaled the smoke, “If you’ll need it, take the boat. I know I should not count with you coming back anytime soon.”

Paul rubbed the back of his neck, impatiently looking to the pier,” I- yeah. I’ll have the phone with me, don’t worry,” he gently smiled, looking up at Till.

“As if you’re gonna actually use it,” a laugh, “but if you’ll be away overnight, take some shit with you. It might be the middle of the summer but the nights can still be pretty cold. Trust me.”

“Yeah okay,” Paul nodded.

“Now go, you idiot. I’m not holding you here,” Till laughed and nudged Paul forward, then disappearing back into the cottage.

Paul looked behind himself to see Till heading to the living room. He took a deep breath and with a barely supressed grin began moving down the dirt road. His walk turned into jogging and then into a full blown sprint, running down to the beach, in a speed that would rival a horny teenager.

He stopped at the shore, took of his shoes and slowly submerged his feet in the water. He was still wearing his cargo shorts and a black t-shirt in which he was travelling but he didn’t care. He slowly moved forward, the water coming up to his ankles, to his knees, wetting his shorts and then to the middle of his thighs. Paul, let his fingers play with the surface of the water as he looked into the distance. The setting sun was obscuring his vision, he had to shield his eyes with one of his hands to help him see. He knew he had to be patient. He moved a bit, looking around and discovering what else was new at the fishery. He saw that one of the barns was reconstructed and had an extension, which was running almost to the sea – that was certainly made by and for Till and his newly found sea co-workers. Paul had to chuckle; when he looked at the pier he saw that the end was wider, had a table and couple of rugs and blankets thrown over a makeshift rack – that must have been the place where Richard laid when he called him over the net.

A gasp got stuck in Paul’s throat when he looked back at the sea. A head was peaking out of it, turned straight at him. He could not see well into the face as it was surrounded by the last sunrays yet he did not need to guess to whom it belonged to.

“Reesh,” he whispered, slowly moving forward. The head raised above the water and then the entire body moved, “Reesh!”

The merman sped up, getting over the distance between them in a matter of seconds, “Paulchen! Oh, baby!” The merman moaned, throwing himself onto the smaller man.

Paul barely extended his arms in time, the merman jumped on him and almost made him fall back into the water. They both embraced each other tightly, Richard buried his face into Paul’s neck and deeply inhaled his scent. Paul spun them around in the water, making Richard’s tail coil around him and hug him just as well. The men laughed, both happy they’re holding their lover in their arms back again. Paul kissed Richard’s neck and squeezed him once more before he backed away a bit, just enough to nudge the merman’s face with his nose.

Richard inhaled once more and then looked up with adoration, focusing on Paul’s lips. He bit his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling so much and bend down, properly kissing the smaller man. Paul closed his eyes, pursed his lips to meet the merman’s and returned every kiss that was given to him, not stopping until both of them were breathless and their kisses much deeper. With a last purse of his lips, Richard eased a little bit back, slowly opened his eyes and coiled his arms around Paul’s neck, intertwining his fingers behind the smaller man.

“I hope I’m not dreaming,” the merman sighed as he leaned in for a couple of eskimo kisses.

“You’re not. And neither am I,” Paul squeezed his arms which he had snaked around Richard’s waist, “oh how I’ve missed you, mein Schatz.”

The merman giggled and run his left hand slowly down Paul’s face, fingers tracing every feature, stopping at his lips and softly stroking them, “I’ve missed you too, baby. I’m so happy you’re back,” he smiled, looking into Paul’s eyes.

Paul smiled back and kissed Richard’s wandering fingers, focusing on each knuckle individually. Richard then moved his hand into Paul’s hair and gripped it, angling the smaller man’s face to the side. As he heard Paul’s sigh filled with pleasure he bent down once again, now kissing Paul much more vigorously. Their tongues met, coaxing each other out, tasting each other and making the other man moan in approval.

“I can’t wait to be with you,” the merman purred into Paul’s ear, making shivers run down his body, “I patiently waited for a month, it’s just us now,” he emphasised his statement by nipping at Paul’s jaw and then biting and sucking right under it. As he felt Paul’s shivers he grunted in approval and started licking the abused skin.

“I want to be with you too, baby. Just not here, Till can easily see and hear whatever is happening down here,” Paul pushed Richard’s head up, cradled it in one palm and stroked the merman’s cheek with his thumb.

“What are you suggesting then?” The merman turned his head to the side, catching Paul’s thumb in between his lips and lightly sucking on it.

“Well, I-“ Paul swallowed, it was more and more difficult to think straight, “I can take the boat and go somewhere. Spend a night on a beach, I have the time now,” he smiled at Richard’s sudden grin, “Let’s get more privacy, huh? I can also tell you all the details about what happened back in Berlin.”

“That does sound nice,” Richard kissed Paul’s hand and slowly freed him from his embrace, “hurry up though, I’m not letting you disappear for long, not when I finally got to be with you.”

“Good boy,” Paul kissed the tip of Richard’s nose and turned around, heading to the cottage to grab some of the necessities for him to survive the nigh outside.

“When I want to be,” Paul could hear the smirk in Richard’s voice and turned around just to get a face-full of sea water.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it when we are alone!” Paul shouted back, playfully kicking some of the water at the merman.

“I hope so!”

Paul laughed as he jogged back to the cottage, oh how has he missed this. Once he was inside he grabbed a blanket, a couple of towels and some spare clothes. Then he headed to the kitchen ready to raid Till’s fridge only to discover a basket full of food and drinks waiting for him. Paul looked at the note sitting a top of it which bore Till’s handwriting.

_Enjoy yourselves. And please don’t drown._

Paul grabbed the basket and ran out of the cottage down to the pier. Richard had already tied the boat off the pier and was holding it in place for Paul.

“C’mon, I’ve waited long enough.”

“Yeah, yeah, just a sec,” Paul threw the things down and started the boat, “so, where to?” He looked at the merman expectantly.

“Follow me,” the merman smirked and dove down underwater, heading out of the fishery.

It didn’t take them long to find a secluded beach. Paul realized it was actually the one where he and Richard made love for the first time, though it was a bit difficult to see it as the last sunrays dipped beyond the horizon and left the sky in colours of purple and blue. The steep rocks restricted anyone seeing the beach, leaving it completely untouched.

In a few quick movements, Paul tuned off the engine, threw the anchor down and handed over the basket to Richard. The merman smiled at the contents of it and then transferred it onto the beach as he was used to. Paul changed himself into his swimming trunks, threw his clothes with the blankets and towels into a bag and took it with him onto the beach as well. He then took the blanket out and threw it on the ground, spreading its edges to the side. He dried himself a bit and put on a hoodie; Till was right, the nights were still cool.

As soon as he was settled down, Paul felt movement to his right – the merman rolled onto the blanket and snuggled to his side, sliding his left arm around Paul’s side and laying his head on his shoulder. Paul smiled at the contact and squeezed the merman to him and kissed the top of his head.

“So tell me, how did you mange to survive in Berlin without me?”

“You know how I spent my time there, I called you everyday.”

“Yes, but I want to know every detail, I want to know when will your kids come and how did you deal with your marriage. I want to know everything, darling,” Richard kissed the bruised side of Paul’s neck and kept nipping down to his collarbones.

“Nosy little thing, aren’t you?”

“What? I want to know what my partner has been up to. I want to hear your voice all night long.”

“You’re preposterous.”

“Mmhm. And you love me for it.”

“I do,” Paul smiled and angled his head for a brief but a deep kiss, “alright, let me tell you that everything went thankfully rather smoothly.”

Paul started from the beginning; he told Richard how he agreed with his ex-wife how they will divide their property, how can Paul contribute to their daughter’s need of parenting and how long it took the authorities to deal with all the paperwork. They talked deep into the the night, Paul explaining anything the merman questioned and soon they found themselves laying on their backs, Richard snuggled up to Paul and both looking at the stars and the full moon that illuminated the entire beach.

Richard then got curious and asked Paul about his everyday life back in the city; since he saw bits of it through Paul’s phone he could not stop thinking about how humans, especially Paul, lived. That resulted in Paul roughly describing any important history event, because every time he explained something, the merman just had more questions. When Paul described the U-Bahn, Richard needed to know how people lived before the existence of the metro, then asked about electronics, making Paul name any device he knew existed and describing its function and then of course, the merman was asking the smaller man about their food.

Paul gladly answered whatever he knew and what he didn’t he promised he’ll find the answers to. Richard then spontaneously started talking about his own life, describing how have things changed in Paul’s absence. While Paul already knew about the visits from Doom and the two mermaids, what surprised him was that Richard was now considered a renegade; not only did he fall for a human but he also led the attack on the poachers, which the elders considered reckless. Paul could hear the hints of sadness in Richard’s voice, so immediately moved closer to the man.

Richard told him that although he was not welcome among his school anymore, he still regularly met with his closest of friends and then with a sour chuckle added that the elders will come crawling for him once the mating season begins.

“They would? Even though they know you have a mate?” Paul raised himself on his elbow, laying his other hand on Richard’s chest and looking into his moon-illuminated face.

“Oh, they will. Remember there aren’t many males around and Doom deciding to stay on my side does not help them either. Still, they will come and bully me all over again,” he rolled his eyes though he smiled when he heard Paul call himself his mate.

“And you’ll listen to them?”

“Should I?”

“I… I don’t know, Reesh,” Paul brought his free hand up and stroked Richard’s hair out of his face, “I don’t know how serious it is with you guys.”

“They will survive without me, don’t worry,” Richard raised himself on his elbows as well, burring one of his hands into Paul’s hair, “I have you. I don’t need to listen to them and I don’t need anybody else,” he moved closer, letting their noses touch.

“Oh baby,” Paul sighed, cocking his head to the side and aligning their lips together for another row of affection filled kisses.

They both laid down again, this time Paul put his head on Richard’s warm chest and listened to his beating heart. It was so soothing that Paul eventually fell asleep, the merman’s hands never ceasing in their caressing.

…

Paul was woken up by a trail of light kisses that the merman was leaving across his neck. He slowly opened his eyes and discovered he was on his back, the merman partly laying on him, surrounded by early morning light. He couldn’t have slept for long as they talked deep into the night and the sunrise now happened quite early in the morning. Still, he could not feel happier; Richard’s body was like a radiator, emitting warmth and keeping Paul comfortable on the cold beach.

Paul moved his right arm and caressed the merman’s hair, making him hum in appreciation. Richard raised his head and cradled Paul’s head in his palms, stroking the smaller man’s jawline with his thumbs, “Good morning, baby.”

“Good morning,” Paul yawned and dragged Richard’s head closer, demanding a kiss.

The merman happily responded, easing himself a bit up and leaning over Paul to get in a better position. The lazy kisses soon turned more heated, waking both of the men. Paul stroked every part of Richard’s body he could reach, dragging his nails across the merman’s back and anchoring them at his hips, pushing him closer to himself.

“Someone’s eager,” Richard mumbled into his lips, squeezing Paul’s shoulder and bringing his mouth back to his lips.

“Haven’t had a proper chance to greet you yet,” Paul smirked as he bit into Richard’s lower lip, “I think it’s time we do something about it.”

“I like the sound of that,” he squeezed Paul’s hip, “It’s been some time.”

Richard eagerly bent down, ready to kiss the smaller man again. His eagerness resulted in a clash of teeth and tongues, both men grunting and clawing at the other’s skin. The merman was slowly pushing himself onto the smaller man, ready to lay on him but was stopped by Paul’s hand which pushed into his chest.

“What-“ Richard mumbled between the kisses, “let me-“

“Let _me_ ,” Paul smiled back, easing himself back and waiting for the merman to sit up. Richard did so, questioningly staring at the man. Paul smirked, he pushed the merman till he was on his back, supporting himself only by his elbows. Then he rose to his knees, slowly padded over and raised his left leg to straddle the now smirking merman.

“Oh, I like this,” Richard whispered as he put his hands on Paul’s hips, squeezing them tightly. He straightened up and captured Paul’s lips once more. Witch each purse of his lips he massaged the smaller man’s hips, burrowing his hands into his hoodie and sneaking them up his back. Paul’s hands found their place around Richard’s jaw; he tugged with fingertips at his hair and used his thumps to angle the merman’s head for better access. With a last flick of his tongue, Paul began to trail a row of kisses down the merman’s neck, stopped to feel the pulsating of his veins and started to nibble on Richard’s neck as well, covering it in marks.

The merman grunted in approval, gyrating his hips into Paul’s. The man responded with a moan, biting down on Richard’s shoulder and meeting the merman’s thrusts with his own. The merman looked into Paul’s eyes, mouth open, and began tugging at the hoodie, trying to get it of Paul as quickly as possible. Once Paul pulled the zipper down and threw the hoodie away, a sound of adoration left Richard’s lips as he pushed their chests together, not leaving a single space between them.

“Fuck,” moaned Paul, now freely grinding himself onto the merman, feeling the familiar bulge between his legs.

“Fuck indeed, baby,” the merman breathlessly smirked, moving his left hand onto Paul’s ass and squeezing it, “you want it?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Get rid of the damn shorts then,” the merman hissed and Paul could already feel the tip of Richard’s cock rubbing against him. He clumsily stood up, only to quickly shed his swimming trunks away. Paul looked down at the sitting merman; he was looking back at him, mouth open as shallow breaths were escaping it and his cock was already halfway out, glistening in the early morning light.

Paul smirked, as he saw his lover laying between his legs like that, he got a bit curious. He slowly sat down, a little bit further down so he had a perfect view of the merman and his crotch. He ran his hands up and down Richard’s chest, making him shudder in pleasure and then he stopped, resting them on both sides of his lover’s shaft. Paul bit his lip and wrapped his right hand around the base and then he looked up at the merman’s approval. Just as he squeezed it for the first time, Richard’s head flew backwards, curses falling out of his mouth in waves. Encouraged, Paul started moving his hand up and down, squeezing and twisting his hand in a slow rhythm. While he did so, he had a chance to see all the differences between them. Richard’s cock wasn’t straight, ended rather pointy and was slick to the touch. It still was hot and decorated with pulsating veins, which Paul gladly traced with his fingers, making the merman moan even more.

He then straightened his palm and ran it down the underside, stopping at where the base disappeared into the slit. He cautiously looked at the merman and waited for his approval. Once Richard took a couple of breaths he raised his shaking arm and guided Paul’s hand, aiding two of his fingers slowly inside. Paul’s breath got stuck in his throat as he heard the loud moan, he also felt as the tail under him twitched and coiled, shaking in small spasms. He took a deep breath and rubbed his fingers along the underside of Richard’s cock that was hidden just under the slit. With each curl the merman shuddered, emitting dirty moans and trashing under the smaller man. Paul continued to finger him, absentmindedly humping Richard’s tail. The merman’s moans grew louder, he was almost painfully gripping Paul’s hair while he thrusted into Paul’s fingers, supporting his body with the other arm, which he had stretched behind himself.

After a prolonged moan, the merman took a deep breath and deeply growled, startling the smaller man, “enough,” he hissed as he forcefully dragged Paul closer to his chest. Paul yelped at the sudden movement, hands quickly flying towards Richard’s shoulders for support. He eased himself down and felt Richard rubbing his cock between his cheeks, running it up and down, occasionally teasing his entrance.

Paul felt as the merman used one of his hands to spread his juices over his hole and already starting to circle it with his middle finger. Soon it was pushed in, slow strokes making Paul claw at Richard’s shoulders in anticipation. Then a second finger joined it, rubbing in circles over Paul’s spot and slowly scissoring, making space for the third one. Richard pumped his fingers in and out, making sure that the smaller man was fully relaxed and that both of them could enjoy the oncoming activity as much as possible. He didn’t stop until mewling Paul bit him into his jaw, breathlessly hissing into his ear, “stop teasing and fuck me.”

The merman grunted, easing his fingers out and gripping his cock to align it with Paul, “as you wish, love,” he slowly entered him, transferring his other hand onto Paul’s back and holding the buckling man in place. He held his breath and only inhaled sharply when he was fully sheathed in the other man. Richard then started to move his hips as much as he could, encouraging his lover to do the same. They both found their rhythm, gradually speeding up until their hips were meeting in quick repeated slaps of their skin. Paul then took his own leaking cock into his right hand and started harshly jerking himself off. While he did so, he kept looking into the merman’s eyes, challenging him to move more. Richard again supported himself with one hand behind him, making his thrust more powerful and deeper than before. He then hushed Paul’s moans by kissing him, lips and tongues sliding across each other to taste the other man.

It didn’t take long for Paul to come. He roughly thrusted his hips down a couple of times and then stilled, moaning into Richard’s mouth as he climaxed, semen shooting over both of their chests. Richard felt Paul’s contractions and moaned back, kissing the man as much as possible. A few moments later and he was coming as well, spilling himself deep inside of Paul. The merman wailed Paul’s name and bit into his shoulder, leaving a ring of his teeth as a mark.

“Love you, love you, love you,” he repeated into Paul’s shoulder, kissing every single mark he left on the man’s collarbones and neck.

Paul took Richard’s head into his hands and looked deep into his eyes, “and I love you too,” he smiled and kissed him deeply, yet gently without any of the animalistic lust he felt just a few minutes before. Richard smiled into the kiss, snaking his arms around Paul’s waist and then gently easing him off himself, laying him back on the blanket. Richard gently traced every curve of Paul’s body, kissing his mouth once more while making himself comfortable right next to him.

“My baby, my love,” Richard whispered, as he stroked Paul’s hair.

“My lovely merman,” Paul smiled, bringing his head down for a kiss. He pursed his lips a couple of times and then snuggled to his lover, enjoying his warmth and the serenity of an early morning.

…

Paul got used to his new life pretty quickly. He already knew how and what to do from his previous visit and the assistance from the mermaids certainly helped. Almost everyday he met with Richard and went hunting for fish, returning with overfilled tanks and clean hands. The fishery slowly transformed itself, Till and Paul working wherever they could to make it nicer and more comfortable for both them and the visiting mermaids. Flake and Oliver came over from time to time as well, sometimes even when the mermaids were there to create a one happy get-together.

Every time Paul didn’t have to work he spent his free time away, somewhere on a secluded beach with his lover, playing together in the water or teaching each other new things. Paul once again started bringing the guitar with himself; he marvelled how quickly was the merman able to learn it. He liked to listen to him play, as Richard combined his own songs, creating beautiful music. Some evenings Paul spent with Richard laying by his side and with a notebook in  his lap, showing the merman either pictures and videos of his life or they ended up watching a movie or two, making the merman shower him in thousands of questions. He also tried to find any new information about mermaids on the net, asking Richard if it was true or not. Of course, most of the things Richard only laughed about as they were made up myths and had nothing to do with his life.

Occasionally, Paul visited Oliver or Flake; Oliver taught him how to surf, which didn’t go unnoticed by his merman, so soon Paul found himself riding the waves while Richard swam with him, sometimes jumping out of the water to show off.

And so, Paul’s life have finally settled down. He lived on a beautiful island, surrounded by friends and doing a job he rather liked. And if there was a time he felt sad or irritated it did not last for long, as his love was always there, waiting for him on the shore and ready to share all the love he had for him. After many years of tedious, boring life and work in Berlin, Paul was finally happy, living his life to the fullest with Richard by his side.


End file.
